September 2025
Volume 18 Issue 11
Rocking Your Rentals—ABA Accessibility and Leased Facilities
A Legal Update on Associational Discrimination in Education and Employment Environments
Sexual Education, Disability, and the Law: Understanding the ADA’s Role
Advancing Court Accessibility for Individuals with Disabilities
This comprehensive guide was developed by the Southwest ADA Center to empower court personnel to meet the disability needs of court users. it can also be used by court users with disabilities and others to understand how the ADA applies to the judicial system. Read this comprehensive guide on Advancing Court Accessibility for Individuals with Disabilities.
Adobe Tools for Accessibility
Adobe is a software that is widely used to create portable document formats, or PDFs as they are commonly known. But did you know that they also offer free accessibility tools like a color contrast analyzer and a free optical character recognition (OCR) tool that can help turn image-based PDFs into searchable documents? Check out these tools and Adobe’s guidance on creating accessible PDFs.
Data Report on the Direct Service Workforce for Aging Adults and People with Disabilities
The 2023 National Core Indicators Aging and Disabilities (NCI-AD) Survey Report was recently issued. This survey collects comprehensive data on provider agencies and the Direct Service Workers (DSW) providing services to older adults and people with physical disabilities. It features information on three states from our region: Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. Read the report to learn how states can measure challenges and monitor improvements in their direct service workforce.
Answer: The Department of Justice (DOJ) has stated that service animals must stay on the floor or a person may carry their service animal. For example, a common task for diabetic alert dogs is detecting changes in their handler’s blood sugar levels through scent. These service dogs may need to be carried in a chest pack so they can be close to their handler’s face to smell their breath and alert them to changes in their blood sugar.
The ADA gives people with disabilities the right to be accompanied by their service animal, but covered entities are generally not required to allow a service animal to use items provided for customer use only.
Resource(s):
Learn more by visiting our ADA Frequently Asked Questions.
According to the lawsuit, Silver Cross Hospital failed to provide a reasonable accommodation to employees who requested to be exempt from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine because of religious and disability reasons. The hospital denied both employee’s requests for accommodation and retaliated against them, either by firing them or forcing them to quit, even though each could have been accommodated without undue hardship, according to the EEOC’s lawsuits.
EEOC v. Zoe Center for Pediatric & Adolescent Health, LLC (Zoe Pediatrics)
Zoe Pediatrics agreed to pay $70,000 to settle a disability discrimination and retaliation lawsuit. The suit charged that an employee requested a reasonable accommodation of one day of leave, one week of remote work, and then a modified schedule of working remotely three days per week due to her disabilities. The employee could have performed her job responsibilities within the proposed modified work schedule. However, Zoe Pediatrics denied the employee’s request and terminated her employment.
Sarafina Network, a management company for gas station convenience stores, will pay $40,000 and furnish other relief to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit. According to the suit, store managers, employees and customers routinely mocked a neuro-divergent cashier with eye problems, anxiety, and a seizure disorder. The lawsuit further charged that after receiving complaints about the harassment, the store manager responded by demanding that the employee provide a medical release related to a seizure episode. The employer subsequently refused to accept a medical release tendered by the employee and proceeded to terminate him. The business failed to maintain any anti-harassment or anti-discrimination policies or train employees about their obligations under federal anti-discrimination laws, the EEOC said.
EEOC v. Criswell Chevrolet, Inc.
Criswell Chevrolet, an automobile dealership, will pay $30,000 and provide other relief to settle a federal disability discrimination lawsuit. EEOC charged that Criswell Chevrolet violated federal law by refusing to allow a worker with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to have a service dog with him at work, leaving him no choice but to leave his employment.
Kwik Trip Inc., a family-owned gasoline station and convenience store with over 800 locations in the upper Midwest, agreed to provide $35,000 to a former employee and committed to provide additional training on equal employment opportunity, including ADA training for all employees and managers to resolve a finding of disability discrimination. EEOC will monitor compliance with these obligations for the next two years.
Ohio-based ViaQuest, and its affiliates will pay $175,000 and implement significant injunctive relief to resolve a disability discrimination charge. The investigation found that ViaQuest discriminated and retaliated against an applicant by denying her a reasonable accommodation during the hiring process and refused to employ her because of her disability.
EEOC v. Sam’s East, Inc. and Walmart Inc. (Sam’s Club)
Sam’s Club will pay $60,000 and undertake remedial measures to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit. According to the suit, Sam’s Club refused to let a longtime employee return to her associate position following a medical leave of absence related to an automobile accident. The employee sought reasonable accommodations for her disabilities and successfully performed a shift with restrictions upon her return. However, the supervisor later said she could not work with restrictions and would instead need to take another leave of absence until she could work without any restrictions. Sam’s Club then denied the employee’s requested leave and fired her. The store’s general manager told her Sam’s Club would not accommodate her injuries because they occurred outside of work.
A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of two medically fragile children from Indiana and their families who are fighting changes made by the state FFSA to a Medicaid waiver program. The Indiana Disability Rights and the ACLU of Indiana in May 2024 filed the lawsuit, arguing that the FSSA’s policy change violated the ADA by risking institutionalization of the children. The U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals on Aug. 11th affirmed a district court's prior preliminary injunction in favor of the families who sued. The decision means that two Indiana mothers can continue to serve as paid providers of “attendant care” for their children.
DOJ v. North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections (NCDAC)
DOJ entered into a settlement agreement with the NCDAC to ensure that incarcerated individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing have equal access to NCDAC’s programs, services, and activities, including educational, counseling, recreational, vocational training, and religious services. Under the agreement, NCDAC will provide inmates with hearing disabilities appropriate auxiliary aids and services, such as sign language interpreters, video telephones, visual notification systems, and hearing aids. NCDAC will also develop individualized communication assessments and plans; provide training on the ADA to staff.
DOJ v. Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) and Ross Early Learning Center (Ross ELC)
As part of a settlement agreement, MNPS and Rose ELC agreed to modify the District’s policies, practices and/or procedures to permit the use of continuous glucose monitors (CGM) by children diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D), to purchase or use existing equipment to monitor blood glucose alerts transmitted from CGMs of children with T1D, to ensure that school nurses and other appropriate trained staff members monitor blood glucose alerts transmitted by the CGM during the school day and during school-sponsored activities. MNPS also will pay the complainants $1,000 as part of the resolution
DOJ Launched Investigation into FlixBus and Greyhound
DOJ opened an investigation after receiving complaints that FlixBus and Greyhound violated the ADA rights of people with disabilities. Complaints alleged that FlixBus and Greyhound failed to properly maintain lifts on buses, refused to assist passengers with disabilities with using lifts, refused to allow service animals to accompany passengers with disabilities or improperly asked for documentation, abandoned customers with disabilities between legs of their journey, and failed to allow and assist passengers with disabilities to leave and return to the bus at rest stops, among other allegations.
Individuals that believe they have been a victim of disability discrimination by FlixBus or Greyhound, are encouraged by DOJ to file a complaint with the Civil Rights Division online at https://www.ada.gov/file-a-complaint/ ,or by calling the Department’s toll-free ADA Information Line at 1-800-514-0301(1-833-610-1264 (TTY)).
