ADA Compliance Lawsuits

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is one of the most significant laws in American History. Before the ADA was passed, employers were able to deny employment to a disabled worker, simply because he or she was disabled. With no other reason other than the person's physical disability, they were turned away or released from a job. The ADA gives civil rights protections to individuals with disabilities similar to those provided to individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, age, and religion. The act guarantees equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in public accommodations, employment, transportation, State and local government services, and telecommunications. The ADA not only opened the door for

The Americans with Incapacities Act (ADA) got to be law in 1990. The ADA is a social equality law that forbids oppression people with handicaps in every aspect of open life, including employments, schools, transportation, and all open and private places that are interested in the overall population. The motivation behind the law is to ensure that individuals with handicaps have the same rights and open doors as other people. The ADA is separated into five titles (or segments) that identify with distinctive ranges of open life.(Eeoc.gov, 2015)

Compliance with the ADA regulations can help you avoid fines, lawsuits and unhappy customers. However, the ADA is somewhat complicated, so many property managers or owners are uncertain whether there are violations present in their parking lots. If you are wondering whether you need to correct ADA violations in your own parking lot, here are some things to check.

Before starting this class and especially the research paper, I knew very little about the ADA. During the period of research and writing the paper I hope to obtain a better grasp on the ADA in general. But I also hope to learn some things that my current place of employment can improve our standards when it comes to those with disabilities. The ADA was signed into law on July 26, 1990 by then President George H. W. Bush. It prohibits discrimination based on disability and only disability. It is fairly similar to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The ability for disabled citizens to gain access and move around freely using public transportation, has greatly improved. All commercial and public buildings are required by law to follow building codes for ADA compliance. All commercial buildings and public construction permits must be ADA compliant. While this has not been a problem for large corporations or government buildings, the small businesses tend to suffer. The ADA does allow small businesses to receive exemptions if undue hardships can be proven. The exemptions are rare, and generally do not apply to new construction due to the large slow moving building codes imposed around ADA

On the surface, this may seem like a progressive step of destigmatizing the disabled, but it is crucial to pay attention to the intentions. Are the use of disabled people really progressive, if the companies and corporations including these people are not entirely universally accessible for both customers and employees? For every dollar that advertisement brings into the company, how much of it will be going to disabled employees? Or are these people only a means of bringing in sales?

Most owners and managers of property throughout the country will acknowledge the importance of the regulations stated in the Americans With Disability Act or the ADA that was passed in 1990. The regulations in this act dictate that all buildings open to the public should provide fair, identifiable and safe entrances and exits to and from the buildings along with the rooms inside of them. In addition, the parking lots to these establishments also need to be appropriately marked for people who struggle with some kind of disability. Even though the regulations have been around for such a long time, there are still properties today that do not comply with

Schaefer’s will win the case The ADA makes it illegal for businesses to discriminate against disabled individuals. To prove a violation of the ADA, a plaintiff must prove three facts. First, he must have a disability. Second, the business is a place of public accommodation. Third, he was denied full and equal treatment because of his disability. Under the ADA, a business may have discriminated against handicapped individuals because they have constructed and maintained “architectural barriers” which prevent disabled people from enjoying the business as any other person. (42 USC § 12182, subd. (b)(2)(A)(iv).)The Department of Justice created regulations which have become known as the “Americans with Disability Act Accessibility Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities.” The Department of Justice’s Accessibility Guidelines listed the minimum requirements for ADA compliance. The Accessibility Guidelines provide such things as the number of handicapped parking spaces a business must have and the dimensions of the spaces, the slope requirements for a handicap ramp, counter height, etc. It is these standards which serve as the cornerstone of an ADA

The ADA was approved by the United States Congress in 1990 and is an extension of The Civil Rights Act of 1964. This law protects individuals from employment discrimination based on disability. “The purpose of this section is to ensure that people with disabilities are not excluded from job opportunities or adversely affected in any other aspect of employment unless they are not qualified or otherwise unable to perform the job” (Guido, 2014, p.277). Not only the disability can be physical such as a person in a wheelchair, people that might have visible symptoms as fatigue, kidney or heart diseases that limit a person's attitude. In this case the employer must evaluate to offer a reasonable accommodation in the preparation for the employee

The Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990 to help prevent discrimination against those with disabilities. Part of preventing discrimination was ensuring that people with mobility issues have equal access to most buildings that are visited by or that rent to the public. Most hotels, apartment complexes, restaurants, grocery stores, shopping malls, retailers and sports complexes must comply with the provisions of the ADA, and the law applies to virtually all public buildings as well.

Every person in the organization with a disability has a different need. Organizations work around the clock in many occasions to comply with the accommodations of each individual in the organization. Educating staff in how to comply with the requirements of ADA can be quite challenging. Organizations are afraid to hire, retain or accommodate workers with disabilities because of lack of awareness of disability and accommodations issues, concern over costs, and legal liability (Kaye et al., 2011). It is therefore the responsibility of the organization to educate management about the law and train on disabilities and accommodations. The guidelines, regulations, and building codes should be implemented to make the facility more welcoming and inviting to workers with disabilities (Stryker, R. (2013).

Unlike people who had experienced discrimination against the civil rights act of 1964, the ones who had experienced it on the basis of disability didn’t have any legal recourse to redress it. Therefore, with a very strong influence from the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which forbids discrimination on the foundation of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 which set people with disabilities as a legitimate minority, the ADA became the "equal opportunity" law that has set an example for the rest of the world. This act finally defined what non-discrimination was in the context of disability. The 1990 ADA added the specifications of a new conduct that should be undertaken, for instance, architectural and communication barriers should be removed by providing reasonable accommodation to disabled workers, and finally, it also imposed accessibility requirements for public spaces.

United States Department of Labor (2014) asserts that the ADA and Rehabilitation Act of 1973 affect drug and alcohol policy. Within the scope of this law, even though employers may discharge an employee who is currently engaging in use of illegal substances, employers cannot discriminate against drug addicts who have a history of drug addictions and who are not currently using drugs and have been rehabilitated or currently in a treatment program. Samuels (2014) also stipulates that alcoholism and drug addiction cannot be discriminated in employment, housing, education and services. This protection is adhered to in the ADA and rehabilitation Act passed by the federal government.

One of the current social policies in place that protect the rights of the Deaf and hearing impaired is the Americans with Disabilities Act. (The Americans with Disabilities Act, 1990 ) The ADA is a body of laws and policies that bans discrimination against those with disabilities. This includes the deaf and hearing impaired population. The ADA has four sections that cover: employment, public accommodations, government and telecommunications. In order to be compliant with the ADA, employers are compelled to inquire about the types of accommodation needs the deaf employee has so that they may work alongside others with the least amount of distractions or interruptions.

The parking is located behind the bookstore. Customers parallel park on a one-way street. The street is just wide enough for a passing car to squeeze by the parked ones. There were less than 8 total spots that were situated right beside the building. There were no noted handicap parking spaces. There is other parking down the hill that accommodates all downtown shoppers; however, the walk would be tiresome as it is all uphill. This would not be extremely convenient for a person with a disability, especially a physical one. If customers would like to be dropped off they could be on one of the roads right beside the café. Another thing noted was that there were no ramps in or around the parking areas. Lastly, there were not any dips in the sidewalk that would allow a person in a wheelchair to get from the road level onto the sidewalk. The sidewalk was in a rough condition. It was broken and cracked. Some pieces were elevated more than other pieces. All in all, parking could be improved here to fully accommodate all people with disabilities.