Doe and Roe v. County of Los Angeles

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whose internship and employment offers with the County’s Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) were withdrawn following invasive and unnecessary psychological evaluations.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 Complaint.

Plaintiffs alleged that the County subjected them to an unlawful pre-employment psychological evaluation, withdrew their internship and job offers based on assumptions about their mental health, failed to consider possible accommodations in good faith, and otherwise discriminated against them on the basis of disability.

In November 2022, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Barbara Scheper denied the County of Los Angeles’ motion for summary judgment on all counts, and granted summary adjudication in favor of Plaintiffs, stating that the County’s so-called “interactive process” seemed to be a “sham,” and that it had completely failed to consider possible accommodations for Plaintiffs’ disabilities, as it was legally required to do. Read the Court’s minute order granting summary adjudication in favor of Plaintiffs here.

In March 2024, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a settlement agreement that will completely overhaul the way that the DCFS evaluates prospective interns and applicants for Children’s Social Worker employment. Under the terms of the Parties’ Settlement Agreement, interns participating in the County’s MSW Trainee Program will no longer be subjected to a psychological evaluation at all. For Children’s Social Worker employee applicants, the County’s evaluation protocol will be reviewed and revised by a team of well-qualified experts, who will be tasked with ensuring (among other things) that it is “job related” and “consistent with business necessity,” as required by state law. Read the Settlement Agreement.