DOJ, CITY OF HENDERSON, NEVADA, REACH SETTLEMENT REGARDING LAW ENFORCEMENT COMMUNICATIONS AND THE HEARING IMPAIRED

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE 
Monday, August 5, 2013

Justice Department Reaches Settlement with the City of Henderson, Nev. to Improve Law Enforcement Communications with People Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

The Justice Department announced today that it has reached a cooperative settlement agreement with the city of Henderson, Nev. under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The Justice Department received complaints by individuals who are deaf that officers for the city of Henderson did not provide them with qualified sign language interpreters and other auxiliary aids and services when needed for effective communication.  One of the complainants had been arrested and detained for two days in the Henderson detention facility, while the other was an alleged crime victim.  

During the course of its investigation into the allegations, the department inquired whether the city of Henderson would be interested in resolving the matter voluntarily. The city expressed its full commitment to ensure compliance with the ADA.

The resulting settlement agreement includes some model ways to ensure people who are deaf or hard of hearing are able to communicate effectively with law enforcement.  For instance, officers for Henderson will use a pictogram to ask whether a deaf or hard of hearing person requests a sign language interpreter: www.justice.gov/opa/images/sign-lang-small.gif .

Once the person expresses a need for a sign language interpreter, Henderson has agreed to provide one under most circumstances, usually within an hour of the request.

“People who are deaf or hard of hearing must be able to communicate clearly with law enforcement, whether they are crime victims, witnesses, arrestees, detainees or just members of the public,” said Jocelyn Samuels, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.

“This agreement provides an effective model for Nevada’s – and the nation’s – law enforcement communities to work with deaf and hard of hearing citizens.  The people of Henderson should be proud of their city’s leadership, including Mayor Andy A. Hafen and Police Chief Patrick Moers,” said U.S. Attorney for the District of Nevada Daniel G. Bogden.  “The commitments made by Henderson are simple and cost-effective; the city will be better able to protect public safety while complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act.”

Under the settlement, the city of Henderson will pay a total of $35,000 to the complainants.  In addition, it will renew contracts with qualified sign language interpreters to ensure ready availability, train law enforcement officers, staff members, and volunteers on the ADA, take additional steps to notify the public of the city’s ADA Coordinator, post signs indicating the availability of sign language interpreters and other auxiliary aids and services for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, provide text telephones and volume control telephones, modify its handcuffing policies for people who use sign language or hand writing to communicate, stock and provide hearing aid and cochlear implant processor batteries in the detention facility, and adopt other policies consistent with the ADA.

JUSTICE SETTLES WITH CITY OF ST. PETERS, MO. REGARDING ALLEGED DISCRIMINATORY ZONING LAWS

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Justice Department Settles Allegations of Disability Discrimination Against the City of St. Peters, Mo.

The Justice Department announced today that the city of St. Peters, Mo. will pay $80,000 and make changes to its zoning laws to settle a lawsuit alleging that the city violated the federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) when it denied a zoning request to operate a group home for four women with intellectual disabilities.  The lawsuit is part of the Justice Department’s continuing effort to enforce civil rights laws that require states and municipalities to end discrimination against, and unnecessary segregation of, persons with disabilities. The settlement was filed today and must be approved by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.

“The Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act ensure that municipalities cannot enforce discriminatory land use policies that restrict the rights of their residents to live in the housing of their choice,” said Jocelyn Samuels, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “This important settlement compensates the individuals who were harmed by the city’s practices and will prevent future housing discrimination against the city’s residents who have disabilities.”

“Zoning ordinances that unjustifiably keep group homes out of neighborhoods violate the Fair Housing Act,” said Bryan Greene, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Acting Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. “HUD and the Department of Justice will continue to work together to ensure that everyone, including persons with disabilities, has access to the kind of housing that meets their needs.”

The settlement resolves the United States’ claims that the city violated the FHA and ADA when it adopted and enforced a facially discriminatory 2,500 foot group-home spacing requirement and when its Board of Adjustment refused, without justification, a variance petition to allow Community Living Inc. (CLI) to operate a group home for four women with disabilities.  The complaint also alleges that the city refused to make reasonable accommodations to the city’s rules, policies, practices or services that were necessary to afford the residents an opportunity to use and enjoy their home.  In addition to providing $80,000 for the residents, the settlement requires that the city:

·          Replace the city ordinance that imposes a 2,500-foot spacing requirement on group homes for persons with disabilities with an ordinance that is approved by the United States;

·          Adopt a written policy by which persons may request reasonable accommodations or modifications on the basis of disability from the city’s zoning and land use requirements;

·          Prepare detailed written findings whenever the city denies any type of request for zoning or land use relating to a dwelling occupied by, or designated or intended for occupancy by, persons with disabilities; and

·          Provide training on the FHA and ADA to City officials and employees involved in land use and zoning decisions.

The case began when a legal guardian for a resident of the group home filed a complaint with HUD after the Board of Adjustment denied the group home’s variance petition.  HUD referred the complaint to the Justice Department, which conducted an investigation.

The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability and familial

SETTLEMENT REACHED IN HIV MEDICAL CARE DISCRIMINATION CASE

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE 
Friday, July 26, 2013
Justice Department Settles with Bariatric Clinic in Michigan and Pennsylvania Over Hiv Discrimination

The Justice Department announced today that, as part of its Barrier-Free Health Care Initiative, it has reached a settlement with Barix Clinics under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  Barix Clinics operates bariatric treatment facilities in Michigan and Pennsylvania.  The settlement resolves allegations that Barix Clinics violated the ADA by refusing or cancelling surgery for two individuals because they have HIV.  This is the fifth settlement that the Justice Department has reached this year addressing HIV discrimination by a medical provider.

 The Justice Department found that Barix Clinics unlawfully refused to perform bariatric surgery on a man at its Langhorne, Pa., facility because he has HIV.  The department also determined that Barix Clinics cancelled bariatric surgery for another individual, Mr. Frank Hill, at its Ypsilanti, Mich., facility because of his HIV.  The department’s investigation revealed that Barix Clinics’ actions were not based on individual assessments of the patients or based on current medical knowledge.

 “Erecting unnecessary barriers to medical care for people with HIV can further exacerbate their condition and their marginalization in society,” said Jocelyn Samuels, Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights.  “These are the barriers that the ADA and the Justice Department seek to tear down.”

 “Blanket exclusions of patients with HIV are misguided and illegal," said Barbara L. McQuade, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.  “Under the law, caregivers cannot withhold care unless the decision is based on current medical knowledge about the particular patient and condition, not on stereotypes about a disability.”

Under the settlement, Barix Clinics must pay $20,000 to the first complainant, $15,000 to Hill and a $10,000 civil penalty.  In addition, it must train its staff on the ADA and develop and implement an anti-discrimination policy.

In the past six months, the department has reached five settlement agreements with medical providers to address HIV discrimination.  All five settlements are part of the Department of Justice’s Barrier-Free Health Care Initiative, a partnership of the Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney’s offices across the nation, to target enforcement efforts on a critical area for individuals with disabilities.  The initiative, launched on the 22nd anniversary of the ADA in July 2012, includes the participation of 40 U.S. Attorney’s offices and addresses access to health care for people with HIV and those with hearing disabilities, as well as physical access to medical facilities.  The department has reached a total of 18 settlements (including these five) regarding medical providers’ failure to provide access for people with HIV or who are deaf or hard of hearing.

DOJ FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST FLORIDA IN CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES CASE

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Monday, July 22, 2013
Justice Department Files Lawsuit Against the State of Florida for Unnecessarily Segregating Children with Disabilities

The Justice Department announced today that it has filed a lawsuit against the state of Florida alleging the state is in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in its administration of its service system for children with significant medical needs, resulting in nearly 200 children with disabilities being unnecessarily segregated in nursing facilities when they could be served in their family homes or other community-based settings.  The lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., further alleges that the state’s policies and practices place other children with significant medical needs in the community at serious risk of institutionalization in nursing facilities.  The ADA and the Supreme Court’s decision in Olmstead v. L.C. require states to eliminate unnecessary segregation of persons with disabilities.  The department’s complaint seeks declaratory and injunctive relief, as well as compensatory damages for affected children.

In September of last year, the department issued an extensive findings letter, notifying the state that it is in violation of the ADA.  The letter found that the state’s failure to provide access to necessary community services and supports was leading to children with significant medical needs being unnecessarily institutionalized in, or being placed at serious risk of entering nursing facilities.  The letter identified the numerous ways in which state policies and practices have limited the availability of access to medically necessary in-home services for children with significant medical needs.  Additionally, the state’s screening and transition planning processes have been plagued with deficiencies.  Some children have spent years in a nursing facility before receiving screening required under federal law to determine whether they actually need to be in a nursing facility.

As a result of the state’s actions and inaction, the state has forced some families to face the cruel choice of fearing for their child’s life at home or placing their child in a nursing facility.  In one instance, the state cut one child’s in-home health care in half.  Her family could not safely provide care themselves to make up for this reduction in services, and they felt they had no choice but to place her in a nursing home.  Another child who entered a nursing facility as a young child spent almost six years in a facility before the state completed her federally mandated screening.

“Florida must ensure that children with significant medical needs are not isolated in nursing facilities, away from their families and communities,” said Eve Hill, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.  “Children have a right to grow up with their families, among their friends and in their own communities.  This is the promise of the ADA’s integration mandate as articulated by the Supreme Court in Olmstead.  The violations the department has identified are serious, systemic and ongoing and require comprehensive relief for these children and their families.”

Since late 2012, the department has met with Florida officials on numerous occasions in an attempt to resolve the violations identified in the findings letter cooperatively.  While the state has altered some policies that have contributed to the unnecessary institutionalization of children, ongoing violations remain.  Nearly two hundred children remain in nursing facilities.  Deficient transition planning processes, lengthy waiting lists for community-based services and a lack of sufficient community-based alternatives persist.  The department has therefore determined that judicial action is necessary to ensure that the civil rights of Florida’s children are protected.

The ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability by public entities, including state and local governments.    The ADA requires public entities to ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided services in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs. The department’s Civil Rights Division enforces the ADA, which authorizes the Attorney General to investigate allegations of discrimination based upon disability and to conduct compliance reviews regarding the programs and services offered by public entities.

HEALTH-RELATED SCHOOLS TO RECEIVE LETTER REGARDING HEPATITIS B DISCRIMINATION

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Departments of Justice, Education, and Health and Human Services Issue Letter to Health-Related Schools Regarding Hepatitis B Discrimination

June 12, 2013
WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice, the Department of Education, and the Department of Health and Human Services sent a joint letter today to the nation’s medical schools, dental schools, nursing schools, and other health-related schools regarding hepatitis B discrimination.


In the letter, the departments express concern that some health-related schools may be making enrollment decisions based on an incorrect understanding of the hepatitis B virus, resulting in discrimination.

The letter updates schools on the latest recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding the participation of students with hepatitis B in health-related schools. The letter also emphasizes the importance of CDC’s recommendations, especially as they relate to the schools’ obligation to comply with federal laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability, race, color, and national origin.

Approximately 800,000 to 1.4 million people in the United States have hepatitis B. Asians, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders make up roughly 4.5 percent of the U.S. population, but represent 50 percent of the persons with hepatitis B in the United States.

The letter cites to a March 2013 settlement agreement that the Justice Department reached with a medical school and a school of osteopathic medicine resolving allegations that the schools violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by excluding previously-accepted applicants with hepatitis B from their programs.

The updated CDC recommendations, based on the most current scientific information, dispel many myths associated with hepatitis B and provide guidance to health-related schools on managing students with the virus. The CDC also notes that since the last update of the recommendations in 1991, there have been no reports of hepatitis B transmission in the United States or other developed countries from medical or dental students to patients. Among other recommendations, the CDC recommends that chronic hepatitis B virus infection, in itself, should not preclude the study or practice of medicine, surgery, dentistry, or allied health professions.

"The Justice Department strongly urges health-related schools to review the CDC’s recommendations and to ensure that their policies and practices comply with federal nondiscrimination laws," said Jocelyn Samuels, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department. "Applicants and students with hepatitis B should not have to face exclusion on the basis of unfounded fears and stereotypes, and the Justice Department will not tolerate it."

"Both public ealth and civil rights will be promoted when medical schools rely on the most recent scientific information, not overbroad generalizations, in dealing with medical students with hepatitis B," said Seth Galanter, Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights in the Department of Education.

Leon Rodriguez, Director of the Office for Civil Rights in the Department of Health and Human Services, agrees that health-related schools must ensure that they do not deny equal access to individuals based on discrimination, adding: "The CDC recommendations promote public health and safety while also offering guidance on the management of students with hepatitis B. Our agencies place considerable weight on this guidance in our enforcement of Federal civil rights laws."

The Departments of Justice, Education, and Health and Human Services share responsibility for protecting the rights of students and applicants with disabilities, including hose with hepatitis B, in schools of higher education by enforcing titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. These laws prohibit covered postsecondary institutions from discriminating on the basis of disability and from refusing to make reasonable modifications to their policies, practices, or procedures when necessary to avoid discrimination on the basis of disability, unless such modifications would fundamentally alter the nature of the program or the services provided. The Departments of Justice, Education, and Health and Human Services also enforce Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance, including those of health-related schools.

JACKSONVILLE, FLA.., SETTLES DISABILITIES ACCESS CLAIMS WITH DOJ

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Friday, April 19, 2013

Justice Department Reaches Settlement Agreement with City of Jacksonville, Fla., to Ensure Civic Access for People with Disabilities

The Justice Department today announced an agreement with the city of Jacksonville, Fla., to improve access for people with disabilities to civic life in Jacksonville. The agreement was reached under Project Civic Access (PCA), the Justice Department’s initiative to ensure that cities, towns and counties throughout the country comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

"Access to your city is a basic civil right, and the doors to government programs, services and activities must be open for people with disabilities," said Eve L. Hill, Senior Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. "I commend the city of Jacksonville for its commitment that all people have full access to what the city has to offer."

PCA ensures that persons with disabilities have an equal opportunity to participate in civic life. As part of the PCA initiative, Justice Department staff, including investigators and architects, survey government facilities, services and programs in communities across the country. The survey identifies modifications needed for compliance with the ADA. The agreements set out steps each community must take to improve access. PCA agreements require physical modifications to facilities to make them accessible to people with disabilities. Elements that need modifications may include parking, routes into buildings, entrances, assembly areas, restrooms, service counters and drinking fountains. Other provisions address effective communication, grievance procedures, polling places, emergency management, sidewalks, domestic violence programs and web-based services.

Jacksonville is one of the largest cities in Florida and, by area, one of the largest in the United States. It operates one of the largest city park systems in the United States. During the compliance review, the Department reviewed 64 of the city’s facilities. The agreement requires the city to correct deficiencies identified at the 64 facilities and requires Jacksonville to review and correct identified deficiencies at hundreds of additional facilities. The agreement will remain in effect for five years. The department will monitor the city’s compliance with the agreement.

INACCESSABLE "E-READER" CASE SETTLED

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Justice Department Settles with Sacramento, Calif., Public Library Authority Over Inaccessible "E-Reader" Devices

The Justice Department announced today that it and the National Federation of the Blind have reached a settlement with the Sacramento Public Library Authority in Sacramento, Calif., to remedy alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The agreement resolves allegations that the library violated the ADA by using inaccessible Barnes & Noble NOOK electronic reader devices in a patron lending program.

Under the settlement agreement, the library will not acquire any additional e-readers for patron use that exclude persons who are blind or others with disabilities who need accessible features such as text-to-speech functions or the ability to access menus through audio or tactile options. The library has also agreed to acquire at least 18 e-readers that are accessible to persons with disabilities. The settlement agreement also requires the library to train its staff on the requirements of the ADA.

"Emerging technologies like e-readers are changing the way we interact with the world around us and we need to ensure that people with disabilities are not excluded from the programs where these devices are used," said Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez.

"We are pleased that the Sacramento Public Library Authority worked so cooperatively to adopt measures that will allow patrons with disabilities to avail themselves equally of the library’s programs and services," said U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California, Benjamin B. Wagner.

DOJ JOINS SUIT INVOLVING NEW HAMPSHIRE'S MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEM

The following excerpt is from the Department of Justice website:
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Justice Department Intervenes in Lawsuit Involving New Hampshire’s Mental Health System
WASHINGTON – The Justice Department today moved to intervene in Lynn E. v. Lynch, a recently-filed lawsuit alleging that the state of New Hampshire fails to provide mental health services to people with disabilities in community settings in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.  As a result of the state’s failures, people with mental illness who need state mental health services are forced to go to segregated institutions like the New Hampshire Hospital in Concord, N.H., and the Glencliff Home in Benton, N.H.

Under the ADA, a state cannot require people with disabilities to enter segregated facilities unnecessarily in order to get services.  In April of last year, the Department of Justice notified the state that it is violating the ADA by unnecessarily institutionalizing persons with mental illness and by failing to provide necessary community-based services and supports, like crisis services and housing supports.  Leadership within the state of New Hampshire has recognized that the state’s mental health system is deficient.  According to a top state official, “NH’s mental health system is failing, and the consequence of these failures is being realized across the community.  The impacts of the broken system are seen in the stress it is putting on local law enforcement, hospital emergency rooms, the court system and county jails, and, most importantly, in the harm under-treated mental health conditions cause NH citizens and their families.”

The state adopted a 10-year plan for improving its system, however, the state failed to implement important pieces of its plan and to put in place needed reforms to meet the needs of people with mental illness.  The New Hampshire Community Mental Health Centers association recently concluded that the state had failed to meet important benchmarks within its 10-year plan and informed federal officials that the New Hampshire community system “has less capacity in January of 2012 than it had in August of 2008 when the ‘Ten-Year Plan’ called for additional investment.”

“States are obligated by the ADA to provide services to people with disabilities in appropriate, integrated settings, so that they can live and work in the community, just like people who do not have disabilities,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.  “People with mental illnesses in New Hampshire are currently denied this right and are instead forced to receive costly services in inappropriate settings, like state institutions, as well as local hospital emergency rooms, rather than in more therapeutic and less expensive community settings.  With our efforts today to intervene, we hope to vindicate the rights of people with disabilities and prompt the state to take the necessary steps to meet their needs in more appropriate community settings.”
“Individuals with mental illness who experience a crisis in New Hampshire often spend days in local emergency rooms that are ill-equipped to address their needs, at great expense, and are then transported to the state’s psychiatric hospital, sometimes by the police,” said John P. Kacavas, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Hampshire.  “This costly and traumatic process could be avoided if New Hampshire offered proven and effective services in the community to prevent and deescalate crises, help people maintain safe housing and assist them in finding and holding employment.”
For several months last year, the department engaged in talks with the state in an attempt to resolve the violations the department had identified.  However, the parties were ultimately unable to come to an agreement.  In order to vindicate the rights of people with disabilities under the ADA, the United States now seeks to participate in this lawsuit.  The plaintiffs in the case are represented by the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, the Center for Public Representation and the New Hampshire Disabilities Rights Center.