Since 2020, Disability Rights Advocates and the Law Offices of Wendy Musell have represented a group of Deaf civilian employees, applicants, and former employees in an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) case against the United States Air Force—which, despite its $190 billion annual budget, has consistently failed to provide Deaf employees and applicants with American … Continue reading “Weimer v. U.S. Air Force”
In July 2021, Disability Rights Advocates filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of two participants in Los Angeles County’s federally-funded Master of Social Work Trainee Program, whose internship and employment offers with the County’s Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) were withdrawn following invasive and unnecessary psychological evaluations. Read the … Continue reading “Doe and Roe v. County of Los Angeles”
On June 10, 2020, Disability Rights Advocates filed a Charge of Discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the State of New York and several of its agencies. The Charge challenges the State’s bright-line rule disqualifying anyone with binocular vision lower than 20/40 from being hired as a Mental Health Therapy Aide Trainee (MHTAT), … Continue reading “Herrera v. New York State”
Dayniah Manderson, a tenured English teacher with over 15 years of teaching experience in New York City public schools, uses an electric wheelchair and has been unable to use a restroom at her middle school building in the Bronx for the past 13 years due to the New York City Department of Education (DOE)’s failure … Continue reading “Manderson v. New York City Department of Education”
On September 19, 2017, DRA filed a class Charge of Discrimination against the City of New York and the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) for discriminating against veterans applying for FDNY positions. On December 12, 2017, DRA filed a second Charge in the same case. The Charges are filed on behalf … Continue reading “FDNY’s Discrimination Against Veterans”
Disabled employees of the Social Security Administration (SSA) challenged SSA’s discriminatory practice of limited job promotions and other career advancement opportunities for people with disabilities. On August 25, 2010, the EEOC Office of Federal Operations affirmed the October 8, 2008 decision of the Administrative Judge to certify the case as a class action. SSA filed … Continue reading “Jantz, et al. v. Barnhart”
James Phillips and Daniel Carione filed this lawsuit in 2011 to challenge their termination from the New York City Police Department under a policy that discriminates against officers with hearing aids. Both individuals had exemplary service records – and both sustained hearing loss while performing their duties as police officers. Yet, the NYPD terminated their … Continue reading “Phillips, et al. v. City of New York, et al.”
After 10 years of hard fought litigation, including an appeal to the Ninth Circuit, DRA and Co-counsel Schneider Wallace Cottrell Brayton Konecky LLP reached a settlement with UPS on the remaining issue in this class action case. The settlement resolves the question of whether UPS may use the Department of Transportation hearing standard as a … Continue reading “Bates v. UPS”
In January of 2011, the Ninth Circuit Court granted Stephanie Enyart, a blind law school graduate, the right to use assistive technology to take the Multistate Bar Exam and the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam. The court issued a landmark ruling that established that testing entities are required to provide accommodations that best ensure exams measure … Continue reading “Enyart v. National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE)”