Justice Department Reaches Americans with Disabilities Act Settlement with H&R Block

H&R Block was sued by the Department of Justice for not providing assisted listening devices or interpreters for their tax preparation classes.

As we have been advising businesses, it has been coming. For your information (at least in California) Business Occupancy type B counts as an Assembly Area (type A) if there are 50 or greater people for the occupancy of that room.

This bodes strongly for hotels with conference rooms and restaurants which have performance areas, gyms, theaters and stadiums (among other types). Under the ADA (and the CBC) there must be provisions for providing either assisted listening devices or an interpreter. You can read the text below from the Department of Justice Briefing.

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department today announced a comprehensive settlement agreement under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with HRB Tax Group Inc., H&R Block Tax Services LLC and HRB Advance LLC (H&R Block) to ensure effective communication with individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing in the provision of income tax preparation services and courses at more than 11,000 owned and franchised offices nationwide.

The settlement agreement, which resolves an ADA complaint filed by an individual who is deaf, requires, among other things, that H&R Block furnish appropriate auxiliary aids and services, including sign language interpreter services, when necessary to afford a person who is deaf or hard of hearing equal access to the goods, services and accommodations made available to others.

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This can strongly affects your site or (if you are hosting an event) your liability in choosing a site to rent. Don’t let yourself get caught unprepared. Braille Brochures and Braille handouts are readily achievable with today’s advanced printing technology. Restaurants also should provide Braille brochures.

For more information on how this will affect your site, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. Inquiries are welcome.

Advanced Rulings for Access in 2011

Greetings all

The modification of the Department of Justice’s ADA for 2010 and the introduction of the new California Building Code of 2010 effective as of Jan 1, 2011 has given all of us a pause. But that’s our issue and not yours. Keeping on top of accessibility issues is a full time job, but that’s why we are here.

Of some interest to many of you may be forth coming issues with accessibility. The Department of Justice has been busy with new legislation seeking to more solidly define the scoping requirements for access for the disabled. This has been long in coming. People with special needs have special needs — and it’s hard for many of us, even those of us in the health industry to understand what it’s actually like to have needs different from your average patient. The health industry has been very slow to adapt to 21st century standards when it comes to providing adequate health care for the disabled. Often times, health care facilities may not have a gurney for disabled patients — those that do often don’t have staff who know how to use a gurney or how to treat a patient. This can endanger a patient’s life, making for an uncomfortable situation where a patient may find themselves in the hands of staff who don’t know how to treat them. No one wants to feel like they are a piece of meat, or to lose control over how or where they can be taken.

I write this by way of example. Here is a webpage: Notice of Advanced Hearings on Proposed Rulings.

On this page is covered are laws regarding Web Information and Services (what is to be accessible and how), standards for movie captioning for the deaf and video description for the blind, standards for future 9-1-1 issues and standards for the accessibility of equipment and furniture. This last one is especially important for business owners as items covered include:

    • Medical Equipment and Furniture

Electronic and Information Technology such as ticket kiosks
and point-of-sale devices

Beds in Accessible Guest Rooms and Sleeping Rooms

Exercise Equipment and Furniture

Accessible Golf Cars

Beds in Nursing Homes and Other Care Facilities

What’s significant about putting this online is that often you business owners out there, complain that you don’t get a say in these laws. They get passed and you don’t know about them or who decided these issues. I think many business owners think that a bunch of disabled people sit around with law makers and try and make trouble for business owners. This isn’t true, these discussions need to be balanced. Many disabled individuals are as much ‘in the dark’ as your common business administrator about these things. That’s why these discussions are public. Everyone involved needs to come to the table.

Here is your chance to be ‘in’ on the discussion. Take advantage of the transparency of government! We get blind-sighted by these things when we have tunnel vision in running our business. A business isn’t really about just offering a good or service, it’s about interfacing with society. How do you handle customers, how do you meet the needs of the public, how does the public come in and become a customer…

It’s so important to not forget: what your business means to others is as important as what others mean to your business.

Access isn’t just about physical barriers.

Often people assume that disabled access is a matter of providing or modifying a building. It’s not. Access starts with awareness that all people are connected; that we all need help of some kind for some things.

Nick Conway is just like every other kid on the practice field at Taft High School. He horseplays and talks trash. He carries himself with the same cheeky bravado. His grimy uniform could use a good washing too.

It would seem being born deaf could have been a problem. But the team shrugs it off. He’s one of them, they say. Some are even learning sign language.

“They’re family to me,” Nick, 16, a defensive lineman, said of his teammates. “They have welcomed me as a brother. They learned my language. They have learned to communicate with me.”

At Taft, the Woodland Hills school designated by the Los Angeles Unified School District for deaf or hard of hearing students in the San Fernando Valley, athletics are becoming a way for deaf students to make themselves part of the campus community, said Assistant Principal Robert Clarke.

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At Taft, the Woodland Hills school designated by the Los Angeles Unified School District for deaf or hard of hearing students in the San Fernando Valley, athletics are becoming a way for deaf students to make themselves part of the campus community, said Assistant Principal Robert Clarke.

 

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Read our ADA FAQ for more information.  For information assessing your site yourself or hiring an ADA expert, please look at our ADA Consultation page.  Or call us at 866 982 3212 x2 or email us at help@accesssolutionllc.com

YTA offers CASp

We are proud to include CASp Audits as part of our offering of services.

CASp stands for Certified Access Specialist Program. It is run through the DSA, the Division State Architect.

A CASp audit does not guarantee that a site is fully compliant.  It only means that compliance is pending.  Sites that get a CASp certificate need to have an updated transition plan in place.  THIS PLAN MUST BE IMPLEMENTED and followed through.  There is a date on the CASp certificate.  If there are obvious violations and the date on the certificate is old, this can increase your liability.

Of course, having a CASp certificate can lower your liability.  It can ward off serial litigants while informing the public of you good intentions to comply with the law… CASp does not, however, guarantee that a site cannot be sued.

This is the main page for CASp:  DSA page for CASp.

Read more on professional CASp Consultants.

Also, for more information of course, read our ADA FAQ.  For information about assessing your site yourself or hiring an ADA expert, please look at our ADA Consultation page.  Or call us at 866 982 3212 x2 or email us at help@accesssolutionllc.com

SAN GABRIEL CHAMBER IS HOSTING AN ADA SEMINAR

In response to the lawsuits and threats of lawsuits against local small businesses and property owners for ADA non-compliance – or the perception of non-compliance – the San Gabriel Chamber will be hosting a FREE ADA EDUCATIONAL/INFORMATIONAL SEMINAR. This Seminar will increase your understanding of the 2010 laws regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and will have a strong emphasis on practical solutions.

This FREE SEMINAR is open to our entire community – and we encourage you to participate.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2010

5:30-7:30 PM

The CHEC Building of the San Gabriel Valley Medical Center
261 Junipero Serra Drive, San Gabriel

SEATING IS LIMITED AND RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED!

Please call Sandy Rosco at 626 576 2525 or reserve by email: rosco_sandy@yahoo.com

Appetizers will be served.

In response to limited seating and the awareness that not everyone can make it to the event, we will be attempting to livestream (or atleast record and rebroadcast) the event online.

The URL is ustream.tv/channel/yta-seminar

We will also take Q&A later, from the live chat along with audience questions.

Justice Department Fines Dallas Bus Company $55,000 for Violating the ADA

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department and the Department of Transportation announced $55,000 in fines against Tornado Bus Company Inc., of Dallas, for violating passenger carrier accessibility requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In addition to the fine, a consent agreement reached with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the Justice Department requires the bus company to upgrade its fleet to meet ADA requirements by February 2011 or have its operating authority revoked.

An extensive investigation conducted by FMCSA uncovered that Tornado had only one accessible bus in a fleet of 53 buses, while ADA regulations require that at least 50 percent of a carrier’s vehicles must be accessible. The investigation also found the company had purchased new non-accessible buses, failed to train employees on interacting with disabled passengers and failed to establish a wheelchair lift maintenance program. The fine and citations came as a result of FMCSA’s ADA strike force held in May 2010.

“At the foundation of our society is the ability to live independently and move freely,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division. “This freedom is no less important to people with disabilities. We are grateful FMCSA takes accessibility requirements seriously and has reached this agreement.”

“Adhering to ADA accessibility requirements is not a choice, but a high standard that every commercial bus operator must follow,” said FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro. “FMCSA will continue to work closely with the Department of Justice to vigorously enforce ADA compliance so that all travelers can enjoy destinations across America by way of commercial bus.”

In February 2009, FMCSA and the Justice Department entered into a memorandum of understanding concerning the enforcement of commercial passenger buses. The memorandum between the two agencies was included in the Over-the-Road Bus Transportation Accessibility Act of 2007 and is designed to ensure consistent ADA enforcement nationwide.

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This is why architects and contractors are often at a loss.
Accessibility is NOT about Building Code.

Channel 7 Covers ADA Lawsuits in Los Angeles

Interesting story about Morse Merban and Thomas Mundy.

LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Serial plaintiffs are targeting Southern California businesses, suing for alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Your tax dollars are paying for hundreds of these lawsuits.

No one disputes that the ADA is an important and valuable law. But some disabled plaintiffs have turned this type of litigation into a full-time, high-paying job.

Kathie Reece-McNeil owns the historic Aztec Hotel in Monrovia.

“Marilyn Monroe stayed here, Clark Gable,” said Reece-McNeil.

When the hotel was slapped with a fraudulent ADA lawsuit, Reece-McNeil fought back.

She could have settled the suit for $18,000. Instead she hired an attorney and won the case. But she paid a steep price in attorney fees.

“Ultimately it ended up being in excess of $100,000 dollars,” said Reece-McNeil.

“This is more profitable than narcotics, literally,” said attorney David Warren Peters.

Peters is with Lawyers Against Lawsuit Abuse.

“You can make $12,000 a day just eating three meals out,” said Peters.

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This could happen to you!  Read our ADA FAQ for more information.  For information about assessing your site yourself or hiring an ADA expert, please look at our ADA Consultation page.  Or call us at 866 982 3212 x2 or email us at help@accesssolutionllc.com

SB 1608 is ineffective at stopping ADA Lawsuits

It didn’t take long to figure out why a man in a wheelchair had been snapping photographs of the aisles, counters, shelves and bathrooms inside eateries and watering holes in a fashionable eastern Long Beach enclave.

On June 30, Powell’s Sweet Shoppe; Open Sesame, a Lebanese restaurant; and Panama Joe’s Grill & Cantina were served with lawsuits on behalf of Eric Moran alleging that they were in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act. The violations, each of which could cost a minimum $4,000 in damages, ranged from lacking a restroom grab bar to a restaurant chair out in an aisle.

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For updated information on ADA legislation look at California Chamber’s ADA Reform page.

Also read more about CASp consultants.

This could happen to you!  Read our ADA FAQ for more information.  For information about assessing your site yourself or hiring an ADA expert, please look at our ADA Consultation page.  Or call us at 866 982 3212 x2 or email us at help@accesssolutionllc.com

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Sues Comfort Inn for ADA Violations

SAN DIEGO – The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced it has filed a disability discrimination lawsuit against Tarsadia Hotels, doing business as Comfort Suites, which operates several hotels throughout California.

The EEOC filed its suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California (EEOC v. Tarsadia Hotels dba Comfort Suites, Case No. 10-CV-1921-DMS-BGS), charging that the Comfort Suites Mission Valley hotel in San Diego failed to reasonably accommodate a front desk employee and effectively disciplined and discharged him due to his disability, in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA).

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This could happen to you!  Read our ADA FAQ for more information.  For information about assessing your site yourself or hiring an ADA expert, please look at our ADA Consultation page.  Or call us at 866 982 3212 x2 or email us at help@accesssolutionllc.com