Tag Archives: ADA

Has your employer ever asked you exactly what’s keeping you home sick? If so, it may be violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. The EEOC announced on Dec. 18 that it has settled for $2 million a case against Dillard’s Department Stores that was based on a companywide policy that for employees’ absences to be excused, they had to disclose confidential health information – in violation of the ADA, according to the EEOC.   Expensive Outdated Policies Dillard’s fired Corina …

If you work in Illinois, Indiana, or Wisconsin, it just got a little easier for your employer to reveal to others any health care information that you voluntarily offer up. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Nov. 20 issued an opinion in EEOC v. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, taking a narrow reading of the Americans with Disabilities Act’s confidentiality provisions that protect employees’ health information.   Fake Reference Check In general, the ADA requires that employers keep medical …

An engineer hired by the city of Cohasset outside Boston is stirring up an already-shaken political beehive with an age discrimination suit. Mark Brennan, 64 years old, lost his job to a much younger man and is fighting to return to work by filing a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. When a new town manager cleaned house after being hired in 2011, he rescinded the contract Brennan had signed with the former town manager. Brennan claims he was …

The Americans with Disabilities Act has come to the rescue of hearing-impaired movie lovers who can’t watch all their favorites online because some titles lack closed-captioning. On Oct. 11, Netflix Inc. settled a class action brought by deaf viewer Lee Nettles and two groups representing deaf and hearing-impaired people who had sued the company under the ADA. Under a consent order entered in federal court in Massachusetts, Netflix agreed to provide 100 percent of its video-streamed content with closed captions …

Under the original Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), obesity was considered a disability only when it was due to an underlying physiological disorder, like diabetes or a thyroid condition. Otherwise, obesity was considered a lifestyle choice. Today, obesity itself is considered a disability.   ADAAA Changes Definitions In 2008, the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) expanded the definition of disability, particularly the definitions of “substantially limits” and “major life activities.” Since then, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the courts …