[Jobs] Filing an ADA Lawsuit

Fri Apr 6 14:40:22 CDT 2007

AS someone who has filed an eeoc complaint and was given the "right to sue 
letter," and who did subsequently sue, and won at the 5th Circuit, which in 
2004 which did help every man, woman in child in the U.S. as it relates to 
disability discrimination, I would offer the following points:
1. The disability community-its lawyers (if you can find one to take a case 
now), the agencies etc are too darned focused on the ADA as the primary law 
to seek redress under. We have totally forgotten about the Vocational 
Rehabilitation Act of 1964, 71 and the amendments in the 80's and 90's. The 
writer below is correct, the ADA was gutted in 2002 when it was narrowed. 
Our case in 2004 helped prevent many states from claiming in the future that 
they and their agencies are immune from discrimination laws (this of course 
is different for companies and private sector sometimes). The ADA is not 
helpful in most cases right now and lawyers often do not understand this if 
they are working for the plaintiff. The lawyers for the defendants seem 
always to thoroughly understand it which is why so many cases are being 
lost.
2. The disability community needs to uncouple from this blind allegiance to 
anything related to the ADA and rededicate to the development of not only 
another law but to targeting potential presidential candidates, senators, 
represent, local city officials who are not on record as acting in ways that 
will assist not only the disability community but the rapidly aging 
population of this nation. As long as so many are hung up on whether they 
vote Republican or Democrat or Independent rather than voting for those 
individuals who are moving towards non-discriminatory practices and 
legislation which will fight this it will never change. I personally have 
been disappointed with the frequent "happy talk" in my own state and 
community re: disability. Recently, a woman who is disabled actually stood 
up in a meeting and said she thought we needed to all be happy and express 
positive approaches and not show films of the early advocates in the 
disability movement who stopped traffic in Washington D.C. to help create 
independent living centers. I voiced my concern that being positive and 
negative have nothing to do with what is needed. If we continue to follow 
these mindless, afraid of conflict, God will take care of it all" mantras we 
will continue to return to the day when not only disabled people were not 
seen nor heard, women such as the one voicing such rubbish wouldn't have 
even been allowed to have her position in a large independ living center or 
state agency--neither as a woman or a person with a disability. She has no 
knowledge of self let alone the historical issues and their gravity. Yet she 
is now working at a major rehabilitation agency. God forbid if a client in 
trouble should sek her counsel regarding a particular legal issue.
3. The EEOc is an arm of the president. It doesn't report to Congress it 
does as the president wants it to do. The same is true with the U.S. Dept of 
Justice which is why in the past 5 years those lawyers truly interested in 
taking on cases of disability discrimination and civil rights are resigning 
at record numbers. They are not allowed to pursue the cases which should be 
at the federal level. Note that if we had not had a U.S. DOJ attorney who 
was willing to come and argue on our behalf at the 5th Circuit Court--now 
the most conservative (I.e. anti-change in  discrimination laws) in the 
nation we would not have prevailed. Most lawyers in the nation at your local 
level have never argued before the Circuit courts in their region--indeed 
the usually have to submit petitions to be approved to do so. And when they 
are they don't have the level of expertise that the U.S. DOJ lawyers are 
going to have. Again, the disability community needs to do a re-direct and 
start really targeting congress strategies that are going to work. I would 
argue the EEOC is valueless in most cases and really the "gate". If they 
don't give you the right to sue letter you are not going to sue. That is 
just one of many gates. All cases have to come to a summary judgment after 
discovery. Many of the cases are thrown out at this phase. Where are the 
disability agencies nationally in targeting strategies which will ID those 
judges who are throwing out case summarily because they have an 
'understanding," with the powers at be to do so?
4. I am not saying that our agencies are not without effectiveness. What I 
am saying is that the challenges are huge and all who are disabled as well 
as those who understand that if they live long enough they will be too, need 
to have a huge summit to decide who, what organizations etc will dedicate 
themselves to this issue. There are a lot of service delivery issues out 
there which must be dealt with. But if we don't get our act together and 
begin to really delve into the areas where redress will come we are all 
blowing smoke.
5. Lastly, there are many people in the disability community who are fond of 
telling others that they don't believe in suing, seeking redress. Though I 
believe that our Democracy allows us to believe however we want, this in my 
view pervasive lack of touch with what is at stake not only for our current 
generation but for the next is less than helpful to those positive and 
effective efforts underway.
7. The ADA is in most cases of no help. That cases are still being brought 
under it make me question the quality and level of legal support and advice 
being given plaintiffs nationally.
ek

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Judith Bron" <jbron at optonline.net>
To: "Jobs for the Blind" <jobs at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, April 06, 2007 8:57 AM
Subject: Re: [Jobs] Filing an ADA Lawsuit

> Ilene, I'm sorry about your experiences and negative outcome with the ADA.
> The courts today are too busy arguing about the language in the pledge to
> the flag, the rights of people who  broke the law getting into this 
> country
> or the illegitimate wording of the constitution.   I've had my own 
> negative
> experiences with the laws dealing with the rights of the handicapped.  If 
> a
> small business doesn't have a bathroom adapted for the handicapped they 
> are
> shut down in an eyeblink but if someone falls and breaks a limb on an ill
> maintained public place its too bad.  Judith
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Eileen Misrahi" <eileenmis at dslextreme.com>
> To: <Jobs at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, April 05, 2007 9:35 PM
> Subject: [Jobs] Filing an ADA Lawsuit
>
>
>> Hi List Serve,
>>
>> I would like to say a few personal words about filing a lawsuit or a
>> discrimination case with EEOC. First of all, approximately 95-96% of the
>> ADA
>> lawsuits will have a negative decision. Due to the conservative court and
>> the narrowing of the ADA's intent that was passed by Congress, it is
>> difficult to have a favorable outcome. In 2002, Justice Sandra  O'Conner
>> wrote a decision regarding a female worker with carpal tunnel syndrome
>> employed at Toyota. The outcome of the final decision is if one could 
>> comb
>> their hair or brush their teeth, they would not be covered under the ADA.
>> I
>> was flawed that performing ADL's would enter into a decision or relate to
>> the ADA where the ADA is concerned with employment discrimination. I
>> believe
>> that if any changes in submitting a discrimination employment case will
>> have
>> a fair chance and a favorable outcome that the ADA needs to be revised 
>> and
>> Congress needs to review its intent and compare it to the intent of the
>> conservative Supreme Court. Due to unfortunate circumstances of my own
>> case,
>> it ended up in the Federal Court system. I was told that I might have had
>> a
>> different outcome with my case if it was handled in the State system. In
>> my
>> case, the opposing side would not allow us to rename it back to the 
>> State.
>> My recommendation is to make sure when filing the first brief with the
>> courts, not to include any reference to the ADA. Otherwise, the opposing
>> sidelight not allow it in the State system. Lawsuits are also very
>> expensive. I also had difficulties finding a qualify employment 
>> specialist
>> lawyer. The American Bar Association has a listing of disability and
>> employment attorneys for a fee. That is where I found my second attorney
>> to
>> handle the case. After 2-3 years working the system, I finally closed 
>> this
>> chapter in my life . The only avenue left was to appeal it to the U.S.
>> Supreme Court and I didn't want to waste anymore money on a decision that
>> was already decided. It's the ADA that needs revision for anyone who has 
>> a
>> legitimate employment discrimination claim to get a positive result.
>>
>> I hope this was helpful. It's really sad that individuals with visual
>> impairments or disabilities can't exercise their rights under the ADA.
>>
>> Cordially,
>> Eileen
>>
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