The Access Board will conduct public briefings on its work and hold several panel discussions on accessibility in New York City on May 15. The agenda also includes public question and answer sessions. The briefings will cover guidelines for outdoor developed areas on federal sites that the Board issued last year and new supplementary guidelines it is developing for emergency transportable housing.

The Access Board has launched new online guides on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Accessibility Standards and the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA) Accessibility Standards. This web-based material features illustrated technical guides that explain and clarify requirements of the ADA and ABA standards, answer common questions, and offer best practice recommendations. It also includes a series of animations on various subjects covered by the standards.

A study sponsored by the Access Board on the accessibility of trail surface materials was recently completed by the National Center on Accessibility (NCA) at Indiana University. The project assessed the firmness and stability of 11 different types of natural aggregate and treated soil surfaces over a four-year period to determine their effectiveness after exposure to the elements, freeze and thaw cycles, and other factors.

EZEFLOW USA, a pipe fittings manufacturer, violated federal law when it refused to give unpaid leave to a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and fired him as a result of his disability, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed. The employee provided the company's human resources representative with a note from his neurologist requesting that the employee be off work for six weeks, and specific driving restrictions, heights and working with heavy machinery during that period.

A federal judge ruled in favor of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that a Clearwater, Fla.-based company, American Tool & Mold, Inc. (ATM), violated federal disability discrimination law by withdrawing a job offer because of the applicant's old back injury. ATM designs and manufactures injection molds for plastics.

The federal district court in Chicago has entered a consent decree requiring Professional Freezing Services, LLC to pay $80,000 and provide other relief in order to resolve a disability discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC),. In its lawsuit, the EEOC charged that Professional Freezing violated the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) when it refused to hire William Harvel because he had prostate cancer.

A San Jose-based business has agreed to pay $100,000 to a former employee fired because of his vision impairment and to implement new policies and training to settle a federal disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC),. The EEOC charged that Farhang Dahmubed was hired and then quickly fired as a senior bookkeeper at Riviera Consulting & Management Consulting, LLC within one month because of his retinitis pigmentosa, and without any interactive process to find a reasonable accommodation for newly created job duties related to driving.

Upper Chesapeake Health System, Inc. will pay $180,000 and furnish significant equitable relief to settle an EEOC disability discrimination and retaliation lawsuit, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced. The EEOC charged that the health care system failed to reassign an employee as a reasonable accommodation after it removed her from her position as a pulmonary function technologist at its Bel Air, Md., medical center based on its perception that her disability interfered with her ability to do her job.

Direct Optical, Inc., an optical store in Farmington Hills, Mich., will pay $53,000 and furnish other relief to settle a disability discrimination and retaliation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC),. According to the EEOC's lawsuit, Direct Optical denied an optician's request for the reasonable accommodation to bring her service dog to work because of her generalized anxiety disorder.

In a successful conciliation, Strad Oilfield Services, operating in Minot, N.D., will pay $65,000 in damages to resolve a disability discrimination charge filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced. An investigation by the EEOC's Minneapolis Area Office revealed that Strad fired an employee shortly after it learned of his diabetes, ignoring the fact that the employee was still able to perform the job according to a fitness-for-duty test.

On March 28, 2014, the Department issued a Final Rule that adjusts for inflation the civil monetary penalties assessed or enforced by the Civil Rights Division, including those assessed under title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). For the ADA, this adjustment increases the maximum civil penalty for a first violation from $55,000 to $75,000; for a subsequent violation the new maximum is $150,000. The new maximums apply only to violations occurring on or after April 28, 2014. This Final Rule, and the civil penalty adjustments made therein, were non-discretionary and required by statute.

The U.S. Department of Justice entered into a settlement agreement with Florida Ear Nose Throat and Facial Plastic Surgery Center. The agreement resolves a complaint that had alleged violation of title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for failure to insure effective communication. As part of the settlement the Center agrees not to discriminate on the basis of disability, furnish necessary auxiliary aids and services to patients and companions with disabilities and to consult with the person with the disability to determine what auxiliary aid or service may be necessary.

A journal article, co-authored by the Department of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, examining state laws that criminalize potential HIV exposure and encouraging states with HIV-specific criminal laws to use the findings of the paper to re-examine those laws; assess the laws' alignment with current evidence regarding HIV transmission risk; and consider whether the laws are the best vehicle to achieve their intended purposes.

The United States Department of Justice entered into the nation's first statewide settlement agreement vindicating the civil rights of individuals with disabilities who are unnecessarily segregated in sheltered workshops and facility-based day programs. The settlement agreement with the State of Rhode Island resolves the Civil Rights Division's January 6, 2014 findings, as part of an ADA Olmstead investigation, that the State's day activity service system over-relies on segregated settings, including sheltered workshops and facility-based day programs, to the exclusion of integrated alternatives, such as supported employment and integrated day services.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires covered employers to evaluate requests for reasonable accommodations on a case by case basis. Employers are required by the ADA to provide reasonable accommodations when needed to provide equal access to the application process, when needed to allow a qualified employee the opportunity to perform the job or when needed to provide equal access to any benefit associated with the job.A disability under the ADA is defined as:

A physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities or:

A record or history of such an impairment or being regarded as having such an impairment.

In addition, an applicant/employee must be qualified to perform the job with or without a reasonable accommodation to be protected by the ADA.An employer has the right to request documentation from an employee requesting a reasonable accommodation when the need for the accommodation or the disability is not readily apparent. You only have the right to receive documentation on the specific medical condition or disability for which the employee has requested the accommodation. You do not have the right to a complete medical history.

You indicate that you have determined from documentation provided by the employee that he is covered by the ADA. A next step would be to get documentation on the animal and whether it is a service animal and how the animal serves as a reasonable accommodation for the employee. It would be reasonable to get information on the service or task the animal performs for the employee and again how the service or task allows the individual to be able to perform his job.

Also, you are never required to provide any reasonable accommodation that would pose an undue hardship. An undue hardship is defined as requiring significant difficulty or expense.

It would not be necessary to create a policy specifically on service animals. If you have a policy and procedure for handling requests for reasonable accommodations then you should be set for responding to employee requests.

If you have additional questions you may contact the Great Lakes Center by calling (800) 949-4232 (V/TTY) or via our online contact form= http://adagreatlakes.com/WebForms/ContactUs/>

For more information please call 800-949-4232 (Voice/TTY) or Online via Contact Us form.