Disability Law

Job Bias Complaints Up 9 Percent

Complaints of job discrimination filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rose 9 percent last year, the highest one-year increase since 1993. The agency received 82,792 private sector discrimination charges, the most filed since 2002, the Associated Press reports. There were 30,510 complaints of race discrimination, amounting to 37 percent…

Mar 6, 2008 7:13 PM CST

Lawyer Promotes Candidacy, Pokes Fun at His Disability, in YouTube Ads

Portland lawyer Steve Novick is taking a humorous look at his disabilities and his looks in YouTube ads seeking support for the Democratic nomination to the U.S. Senate in Oregon. Novick was born without a left hand and is missing one of the two major bones between the knee and…

Feb 29, 2008 3:40 PM CST

High Court Considers Retaliation Cases, Two Days in a Row

Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court considered whether Congress intended to protect federal workers from retaliation for making age discrimination complaints. Today it will take up a second case about the scope of retaliation protection in a post-Civil War law that bars discrimination in business dealings. Lawyer Joseph Guerra, who represents…

Feb 20, 2008 2:45 PM CST

High Court Drops Wal-Mart Disability Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has dropped a case from its docket in which an injured Wal-Mart worker contended she should been given preference for an open position. The case was dismissed apparently because it has settled, SCOTUSblog reports. Oral arguments would have been held this spring, according to Dow Jones…

Jan 14, 2008 5:08 PM CST

Voter ID Law, Retirement Plan Bias Before High Court

The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments today in two cases, one dealing with the constitutionality of Indiana’s voter ID law and the other with the legality of the use of age in retirement plans. Indiana’s law requiring voters to show a photo ID barred Valerie Williams from voting in the…

Jan 9, 2008 1:28 PM CST

Secretary Loses Appeal in Disability Suit Against Peabody & Arnold

A Massachusetts appeals court has affirmed dismissal of a legal secretary’s disability lawsuit against Peabody & Arnold based on evidence turned up by a private detective. The secretary, Teresa Brooks, claimed she had a disabling spinal condition, but the detective videotaped her “working in her yard, repeatedly bending over, carrying…

Jan 9, 2008 12:01 PM CST

The Boss Is Watching

And employees are finding they have fewer places to hide

Jan 1, 2008 8:53 PM CST

Big Disability Backlogs Can Mean Financial Ruin, Despondency

As the backlog of Social Security disability cases grows, more people are waiting longer for decisions on their appeals—up to three years, in many cases. In the meantime, some lose their homes, declare bankruptcy or even die while waiting for the outcome, the New York Times reports. The average wait…

Dec 10, 2007 1:20 PM CST

Court to Consider Whether Disabled Employees Get Preference

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether a worker who cannot perform her present job because of a disability should be given preference for an open position. The suit by Pam Huber claims Wal-Mart should have given her a job as a router, which paid $12.50 an hour,…

Dec 10, 2007 12:23 PM CST

Court Bans Age Discrimination in Worker’s Comp Award

Siding with a 76-year-old worker who injured her back bending over to pick up some dropped brochures, the California Court of Appeals has reversed a reduction in disability benefits it said was because of her age. Although a medical expert concluded that Lois Vaira’s injury was in part attributable to…

Dec 7, 2007 7:12 PM CST

N.J. Partner Sues Firm for Age Bias, Partner Payout

A 52-year-old partner has sued his former New Jersey law firm for age discrimination. James Toll claims in his suit that he was forced out of Sills Cummis & Gross because of his age and a perceived disability because of a 1997 heart attack, the New Jersey Law Journal reports.…

Nov 27, 2007 2:09 PM CST

Target Class Action OK’d, Seeks Web Access for Blind

Plaintiffs who contend Target failed to make its Web site accessible to the blind have won class action status for their lawsuit. U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel of San Francisco certified two class actions, the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. req.). One is a nationwide class action alleging violations…

Oct 3, 2007 1:35 PM CDT

Video Surveillance Trips Up Insurer

An insurance company’s aggressive surveillance of an injured woman has led a federal appeals court to reopen the insurer’s decision to cut off disability benefits. Hartford Insurance Co. continued the surveillance even though it had turned up no evidence of fraud, the Legal Intelligencer reports in its story on the…

Sep 17, 2007 1:31 PM CDT

Ruling Could Slow Social Security Claims

The Social Security Administration is warning that a judge’s immigration ruling could cause a backlog of work for agency employees at the same time of a significant increase in their workload. Last Friday U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney of San Francisco temporarily barred the agency from sending letters to employers…

Sep 7, 2007 6:14 PM CDT

Law Hushed Va. Tech Gunman’s Disorder

Federal privacy and disability laws prohibited high school officials from revealing that the Virginia Tech gunman suffered from a social anxiety disorder. Fairfax County created a special education plan for Seung Hui Cho that allowed him to decline to participate in class discussions at his high school, the Washington Post…

Aug 27, 2007 4:44 PM CDT