Recently in Americans With Disabilities Act Category

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, USDL-10-1172, August 25, 2010

The proportion of the population employed in 2009-the employment-population ratio-was 19.2 percent among those with a disability, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The employment-population ratio for persons without a disability was 64.5 percent. The unemployment rate of persons with a disability was 14.5 percent, higher than the rate for those with no disability, which was 9.0 percent.

This is the first news release focusing on the employment status of persons with a disability. The information in this release was obtained from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly sample survey of about 60,000 households that provides statistics on employment and unemployment in the United States. Beginning in June 2008, questions were added to the CPS that were designed to identify persons with a disability in the civilian non-institutional population age 16 and over, and 2009 is the first calendar year for which annual averages are available.

Source: University of Chicago Legal Forum, Volume 2009
(subscription required)

Articles include:

* Noah D. Zatz - The Minimum Wage as a Civil Rights Protection: An Alternative to Antipoverty Arguments?
* David A. Weisbach - Toward a New Approach to Disability Law
* Maria L. Ontiveros - Labor Union Coalition Challenges to Governmental Action: Defending the Civil Rights of Low-Wage Workers
* Michael Selmi - Unions, Education, and the Future of Low-Wage Workers
* Scott L. Cummings, Steven A. Boutcher - Mobilizing Local Government Law for Low-Wage Workers
* Kathleen Kim - The Trafficked Worker as Private Attorney General: A Model for Enforcing the Civil Rights of Undocumented Workers
* Devah Pager, Bruce Western, David Pedulla - Employment Discrimination and the Changing Landscape of Low-Wage Labor Markets
* Leticia M. Saucedo - Three Theories of Discrimination in the Brown Collar Workplace
* Michael A. Stoll - Ex-Offenders, Criminal Background Checks, and the Racial Consequences in the Labor Market
* Ruben J. Garcia- Toward Fundemental Change for the Protection of Low-Wage Workers: The 'Workers' Rights are Human Rights' Debates in the Obama Era
* Benjamin F. Burry - Testing Economic Reality: FLSA and Title VII Protection for Workfare Participants

Source: Karen S. Markel and Lizabeth A. Barclay, Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 3 September 2009
(subscription required)

From the abstract
The underemployment of persons with disabilities continues to be a societal problem; many persons with disabilities have difficulty securing and maintaining employment. This difficulty contributes to the relatively higher rates of poverty among persons with disabilities as well as their underutilization as productive members of society. This research examines factors that contribute to this underemployment problem. Based on this examination, we develop questions organizations must consider for addressing the problem. These questions are based on creating working relationships for persons with disabilities at an individual level that may be an extension of an organization's corporate social responsibility program. Individuals with disabilities have a right to obtain and maintain successful employment opportunities; this research outlines the factors at play and provides suggestions for employers to consider in addressing this social problem.

Source: Susan Solomon, HR News, Vol. 75 no. 8, August 2009
(subscription required) (scroll down)

Beginning this year, people with disabilities have more protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Congress enacted the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act, or the ADAAA, in order to expand the ADA to include people with less severe impairments. The changes went into effect in January 2009. According to Congress, 18 years after the original ADA was passed, many individuals with physical and mental impairments whom Congress intended to protect were not covered under the ADA due to a series of Supreme Court decisions that had interpreted the definition of "disability" too narrowly. The purpose of the ADAAA is to
provide "a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination" by "reinstating a broad scope of protection to be available under the ADA." This article highlights the most significant changes the ADAAA makes to the ADA.
See also:
ADA Amendments Act of 2008: Reinstating a Broad Scope of Protection
Source: Local Government Law News, Vol. 11 no. 1, Winter 2009

Source: Human Rights Watch, 2009

From the summary:
In this 70-page report, the ACLU and Human Rights Watch found that students with disabilities made up 18.8 percent of students who suffered corporal punishment at school during the 2006-2007 school year, although they constituted just 13.7 percent of the total nationwide student population. At least 41,972 students with disabilities were subjected to corporal punishment in US schools during that year. These numbers probably undercount the actual rate of physical discipline, since not all instances are reported or recorded.

Source: National Council on Disability, August 12, 2009

From the press release:
The National Council on Disability (NCD) today released its report Effective Emergency Management: Making Improvements for Communities and People with Disabilities, calling on federal, state, and local authorities to make sweeping changes in emergency management practices for people with disabilities.

According to NCD Chairperson John R. Vaughn, "NCD's first evaluation of government work in this area was published in a 2005 report Saving Lives: Including People with Disabilities in Emergency Planning. That report laid out a scenario of a major hurricane striking the Gulf Coast and outlined steps that the federal government should take to include people with disabilities in emergency preparedness, disaster relief, and homeland security. Hurricane Katrina struck four months later."

As a result of NCD's work, the 2006 Homeland Security Appropriations bill's Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act (H.R. 5441) required Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to employ a National Disability Coordinator and to interact, consult, and coordinate with NCD on a list of eight other activities.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Fact Sheet, July 2009

From press release:
The Justice Department today released a new technical assistance fact sheet on legal requirements relating to admitting individuals with HIV or AIDS to occupational training schools and granting state licensure in occupations such as barbering, massage therapy and home health care assistance.

Persons with HIV and AIDS unfortunately still face obstacles in obtaining training and state licensure in these occupations because of overly broad state licensure requirements that applicants be free of communicable diseases. Because HIV disease is not communicate through casual contact, excluding individuals with HIV under these licensure requirements is unnecessary and discriminates against these individuals in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This publication is intended to provide guidance for state licensing agencies and occupational training schools so that individuals with HIV or AIDS have an equal opportunity to pursue these occupations.
See also:
The Potential Impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act on Individuals with Disease
Source: Imani Webb-Smith, Workplace Fairness Blog, July 20th, 2009

Source: Lisa Schur, Douglas Kruse, Joseph Blasi, and Peter Blanck, Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Volume 48 Issue 3, July 2009
(subscription required)

From the abstract:
Using nearly 30,000 employee surveys from fourteen companies, we find disability is linked to lower average pay, job security, training, and participation in decisions, and to more negative attitudes toward the job and company. Disability gaps in attitudes vary substantially, however, across companies and worksites, with no attitude gaps in worksites rated highly by all employees for fairness and responsiveness. The results indicate that corporate cultures that are responsive to the needs of all employees are especially beneficial for employees with disabilities.

Source: National Council on Disability, March 31, 2009

The National Council on Disability (NCD) today concluded that current efforts to employ people with disabilities in the Federal Government have not worked well, but makes recommendations for reversing this trend.

The paper, Federal Employment of People with Disabilities, examines the status of employment of people with disabilities in the Federal Government and makes recommendations for improving federal hiring and advancement of employees with disabilities. The paper summarizes the legal authorities and policy guidance, the responsibilities of various federal agencies charged with ensuring equal opportunity in federal employment, barriers to hiring and advancement, provisions for reasonable accommodations, and agency initiatives.

Source: Ellen O'Brien, Carlos Figueiredo, AARP Public Policy Institute, Research Report, April 2009

From the summary:
More than 19 million working--age Americans-10.9 percent of people ages 21 to 64--have a work disability, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau's March 2008 Current Population Survey (CPS). People with disabilities are often at a distinct disadvantage in the labor market. A key challenge facing policymakers is how to design public programs--and encourage private employers--to effectively support people with disabilities in their efforts to secure and retain employment and achieve economic self-sufficiency. Public and private insurance programs, and public assistance programs, may replace lost income and provide health insurance coverage for workers with severe disabilities, but programs need to be improved both to provide more timely and adequate assistance to people who cannot work and to provide needed supports to people with disabilities who can work.