by Dinita L. James

On February 26, the Phoenix City Council voted to amend its human relations ordinance to include lesbian, gay, and transgender persons as well as disabled individuals among the groups protected from employment discrimination. The 5-3 vote came after a nearly five-hour public hearing before an estimated 500 people in the city’s historic Orpheum Theatre.

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton had fast-tracked the amendment, which was something of a sleeper until opponents, including the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, mobilized in the week before the vote. Phoenix had voted down a similar proposal 21 years ago.

read more…

A new U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Administrator’s Interpretation has been issued to clarify who qualifies as an adult “son or daughter” whom an employee may take unpaid leave from work to care for and rely on the job protections of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

An adult son or daughter must meet four requirements before the employee may take FMLA leave to provide care. (The employee must also meet all of the other requirements under the FMLA, such as employer coverage and employee eligibility.) The son or daughter must (1) have a mental or physical disability as defined under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as amended by the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA), (2) be incapable of caring for himself because of the disability, (3) have a serious health condition, and (4) be in need of care because of the serious health condition.

read more…

Employers covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) must make sure any new building projects are in compliance with the 2010 Standards for Accessible Design by March 15.

The new standards replace the 1991 standards devised when the ADA became law. The 2010 standards set minimum requirements for new construction and alterations of more than seven million businesses and 80,000 state and local governments, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

read more…

Until recently, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations were quite broad in their definition of “service animal,” but that changed earlier this year. Now Maine, which had kept the definition loose in state law, also is tightening up on what constitutes a service animal.

Employers must provide reasonable accommodations not only for employees with disabilities but also for customers with disabilities. Employers that operate retail stores, banks, service centers, and other locations open to the public are probably places of public accommodation under the law.

read more…

Today is the day! Although many thought the day might never come, the final regulations under the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) are finally effective. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released these long-awaited regulations earlier this spring, and employers have been scrambling to become familiar with the intricacies of the new final rules, which are significantly different from the proposed regulations the EEOC issued in September 2009.

The final regulations aren’t very employer-friendly. In fact, the EEOC makes clear that the ADAAA’s primary purpose is to make it easier for individuals with disabilities to be protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and that employers need to focus on whether they have complied with their obligations under the ADA and whether discrimination has occurred, instead of whether an employee’s impairment meets the definition of disability.

read more…