Disabilities Act

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating allegations that Baltimore County government has harassed employees over their medical conditions and forced some out of their jobs, according to court documents and people who have spoken with federal investigators. The inquiry stems from accusations that have dogged the county for several years. It follows two court cases in which the county had to pay a combined $625,000 to former employees over similar claims, and a third case that is scheduled for a settlement conference next month.

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating allegations that Baltimore County government has harassed employees over their medical conditions and forced some out of their jobs, according to court documents and people who have spoken with federal investigators. The inquiry stems from accusations that have dogged the county for several years. It follows two court cases in which the county had to pay a combined $625,000 to former employees over similar claims, and a third case that is scheduled for a settlement conference next month.

Beginning Sunday, all but the smallest companies face a new set of federal regulations, as the first provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act take effect. In short, the law prohibits denying a job or promotion to someone because of a disability, and it requires employers to make the workplace accessible.Business owners, fearing the cost of compliance and the impact on hiring policies, are dreading the deadline. But employers need not hire less qualified employees nor spend a lot of money to accommodate disabled employees, say disabilities rights advocates.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake shared a stage with the other candidates for mayor for the first time Thursday night as she made her initial appearance at a campaign forum. While the other candidates have discussed schools, crime and economic development at more than half a dozen forums this election season, Rawlings-Blake chose to make her debut at an event focused on issues concerning people with disabilities. The other candidates — including Clerk of Court Frank M. Conaway Sr., activist Vicki Ann Harding, former City Councilman Joseph T. "Jody" Landers, state Sen. Catherine E. Pugh and former city planning director Otis Rolley — delivered their remarks extemporaneously, but Rawlings-Blake read her opening and closing statements.

WASHINGTON -- In early January, a symbol of one of the most sweeping civil rights laws in American history appeared at a restaurant on the shores of Spa Creek in Annapolis: a simple wooden ramp.The $900 ramp, which replaced a pair of low steps that divided the split-level dining room at Carrol's Creek Cafe, made its debut three weeks before the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) went into effect. Hailed as a "declaration of independence" for the nation's 43 million disabled citizens -- including some 390,000 in Maryland -- the law required that all businesses be made accessible by Jan. 26."

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Justice Department is proposing regulations to spell out steps that businesses such as restaurants, stores and theaters would have to take to comply with the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act.The rules would require businesses that function as public accommodations to remove barriers in existing facilities and make other reasonable changes to give disabled persons equal access.Stricter standards, requiring a "high degree of convenient access" for the disabled, would be imposed for facilities being altered and buildings that open after Jan. 26, 1993.

WASHINGTON - Foreign cruise ships operating from U.S. ports may not discriminate against disabled passengers, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday. The 5-4 decision held that the Americans with Disabilities Act applies to foreign-flagged cruise ships and bars them from charging higher fares to disabled passengers. More than 7 million passengers annually board these ships and depart from U.S. ports, the court pointed out. And although Americans make up the majority of people who travel aboard cruise ships, most of the vessels fly foreign flags.

WASHINGTON -- A group of seven moderate Senate Republicans announced yesterday yet another attempt to fashion a civil rights bill that would be acceptable to the Bush administration. The White House, however, appeared to reject it.Sen. John C. Danforth, the Missouri Republican who has been leading the group's search for a compromise bill ever since President Bush vetoed last year's measure, said the senators were introducing a measure that would apply to minorities and women the exact anti-discrimination language in a law approved last year by Mr. Bush to protect disabled workers' rights.

Carroll County commissioners yesterday approved a plan outlining how the county's hiring practices comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act.Jimmie Saylor, director of the county's Department of Human Resources and Personnel Services, said the plan outlines "what we do to accommodate the disabled."Mr. Saylor also said the plan describes how the county complies with the Americans With Disabilities Act, "as well as many other laws."The plan notes, for instance, that the county's recruitment office, as well as the County Office Building, is accessible to the disabled, and that county officials use Community Access TV, radio and other methods to advertise openings on the staff.

WHO TO CALLAgencies that provide free advice on the Americans with Disabilities Act:GENERAL INFORMATIONU.S. Department of Justice ADA Hotline: (202) 514-0301. TDD: (202) 514-0381Job Accommodation Network ADA Hotline: (800) 232-9675Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: (800) 800-EEOC. Same number for TDD.Maryland Governor's Office for Handicapped Individuals: 333-3098Mid-Atlantic Disability & Business Technical Assistance Center: (800) ADA-4999. TDD: (703) 525-3268.TransCent: (301) 424-2002.

Verizon Communications has agreed to pay $20 million to settle a discrimination lawsuit charging the telecommunications giant with failing to accommodate hundreds of workers whose absences were caused by their disabilities. The lawsuit and a consent decree settling the suit were filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The settlement amount was the largest of any single EEOC lawsuit alleging violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act, or ADA, the commission said.

Recently, a Federal judge in Baltimore ruled that a Boy Scout chapter did not have to provide accommodations for its disabled members under the Americans with Disability Act. What has happened the basic Scout tenets, "do a good turn daily, help other people" and the Scout Law "A Scout is ...helpful, friendly, kind ... " Are these no longer the basic creed of Scouting? Benjamin J. Dubin, Baltimore The writer is vice chairman of Baltimore County's Commission on Disabilities.

Disabled athletes in Anne Arundel County will be playing baseball, lacrosse and soccer on a brand-new rubberized, all-purpose field by the summer as part of a nearly $1 million overhaul at Lake Waterford Park in Pasadena. The renovation project includes creation of an adaptive recreation field, a covered pavilion serving as an outdoor classroom and dugout, and installation of pathways and parking in adherence with the Americans with Disabilities Act. County Executive John R. Leopold and Councilman Daryl D. Jones, a Democrat who first pushed for the project, will be among the attendees at Wednesday's groundbreaking.

Four years ago, Atholton High's Tatyana McFadden changed the landscape of high school sports for athletes with disabilities. On Tuesday, the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association changed its laws to accommodate those athletes. New language was added Tuesday to the MPSSAA bylaws, allowing students with disabilities to participate in school sports programs as long as they meet preexisting eligibility requirements, are not ruled to present a risk to themselves or others, and do not change the nature of the game or event.

Four years ago, Atholton High's Tatyana McFadden changed the landscape of high school sports for athletes with disabilities. On Tuesday, the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association changed it laws to accommodate those athletes. New language was added Tuesday to the MPSSAA by-laws, allowing students with disabilities to participate in school sports programs as long as they meet preexisting eligibility requirements, are not ruled to present a risk to themselves or others, and do not change the nature of the game or event.

An Anne Arundel County elementary school teacher was wrongfully terminated from his job because he is HIV-positive, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleges in its suit that Chesapeake Academy, a private school in Arnold, discriminated against the teacher because of his disability by not renewing his contract, a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The complaint was filed Monday in Baltimore. Chauncey Stevenson, a second-grade and after-school music teacher, had been employed since 2003 and received good evaluations from his supervisors, parents and students during his tenure, according to EEOC lawyers.

LOS ANGELES -- In a legal settlement that could speed the breakdown of barriers to the disabled, Burger King has agreed to test electronic ordering devices and provide menu order forms at some of its restaurants to accommodate the hearing-impaired and people with speech impediments.The agreement resolves a lawsuit brought by Terrylene Sacchetti, a Santa Monica, Calif., woman who alleged she was refused service at a West Los Angeles Burger King drive-through because she is deaf. The suit sought to invoke the Americans with Disabilities Act, a wide-ranging 1990 law requiring businesses to accommodate disabled people in public spaces.

A week after the filing of a class-action lawsuit in Baltimore Circuit Court, Maryland's disabled citizens and the people who drive them will no longer have to pay for windshield parking placards.The state Motor Vehicle Administration issued an order yesterday eliminating the $5 fee, said MVA public information director Marilyn Corbett. The blue placards, which must be renewed every two years, permit the disabled and any vehicle transporting them to park in designated spaces.But the suit, filed last Wednesday, alleged that the charge was illegal under the Americans With Disabilities Act, which says that "a public entity may not place a surcharge" on the disabled to cover the cost of accommodating their disabilities.

I've been told that in my former life, I was an effortless multi-tasker, a fast talker and a quick thinker. I had speaking engagements across the country and composed my most powerful speeches in airplanes and taxis. In that former life, I was Rabbi Lynne Landsberg, associate director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, then the Union of Reform Judaism's director for the mid-Atlantic region, including Maryland. I am still Rabbi Lynne Landsberg, but the rest has changed. In 1999, I suffered a traumatic brain injury when my Jeep Cherokee skidded on a patch of black ice and wrapped around a tree.

Disabled drivers applaud crackdown I have one response to the crackdown described in the article "Sweep hits handicap-tag abuse" (Sept. 20) - what took so long? As a result of higher fines, most people seem to have gotten the message about illegally parking in disabled parking spaces without a handicap plate or hangtag. So the most rampant abuse of the system today is people using hangtags that belong to other people. The crackdown the article described resulted in the confiscation of 14 placards.