The Work Incentives Act:
What's in the new law?
Amos case settled; Title II threat removed from 4th Circuit
Feb. 25 -- Advocates in Maryland cheered the announcement of the setlement of the case Amos v Maryland Friday evening. ".The Marylanders for Civil Rights of Persons with Disabilities coalition had been working on a multi-pronged strategy to get the parties to settle the Amos suit, and get the issue out of the 4th Circuit," said Maryland activist Gayle Hafner, who reported the settlement to Ragged Edge.
More on this case
Access sweeps continue in PA; three Pittsburgh businesses sued
Jan. 27, 2000 -- Continuing the "sweep" effort begun by disability activists in Harrisburg, PA, (see the January Ragged Edge cover story), Pittsurgh activists sued 3 popular bars on Pittsburgh's East Carson street area for lack of access. The action was covered by Pittsburgh and other Pennsylvania media.
The Disabilities Law Project, which has handled the lawsuits on behalf of the wheelchair-using plaintiffs, vowed to continue to sue area businesses at the rate of 3 a month until area businesses begin to take seriously their obligations under the decade-old Americans with Disabilities Act. Letters citing access violations had been sent to 21 Pittsburgh area businesses; only 7 bothered to respond.
Read coverage from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Read about the Sweep strategy
Are states bound by the ADA's employment protections? Supreme Court takes up cases
Washington, DC, Jan. 25 -- The U.S. Supreme Court is taking up the matter of whether the Americans with Disabilities Act's employment protections extend to state employees. Today it added to its docket the case of Christopher B. Alsbrook v. City of Maumelle, Arkansas, a case from the 8th Circuit of Appeals. Last July the 8th Circuit declared the ADA "unconstitutional" and said that states were not bound by the ADA.
On Monday, the Court had agreed to review the case of Florida state prison guard, Wellington N. Dickson, who had sued under the Americans with Disabilities Act, claiming that the state had withheld a promotion because of his heart condition.
The decision to examine these two ADA cases in light of the 11th Amendment follows the Court's ruling in an age discrimination case decided by the Court last week. In that case, known as Kimel, the Court said that "old age does not define a discrete and insular minority because all persons, if they live out their normal life spans, will experience it."
Court watchers say the fact that the Court has decided to hear the two ADA cases suggests that the Justices see at least some differences between disability and age discrimination.
Did Congress have any authority to make the Americans with Disabilities Act binding on the states? Whether or not states can claim immunity from ADA lawsuits -- an immunity they claim based on the 11th Amendment -- hinges on whether the court rules that the ADA was "a proper exercise" of Congress's authority to enforce the equal protection guarantee of the 14th Amendment.
Disability rights experts say the outcome will hinge on whether the Court agrees with Congress that disabled people are "a discrete and insular minority" subject to discrimination, or not. In the age discrimination case decided last week, the Justices said age in and of itself did not constitute a "discrete and insular minority."
Read more about the Supreme Court's take on disability discrimination.ß
Read more about the Constitutional crisis facing the ADA.
Subcommittee Hearing to Question ADA's Role on Internet
Washington, DC January 20 -- A Feb. 9 hearing slated for the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution may set the stage for an industry-wide attack on the Americans with Disabilities Act's protection of access to the Internet.
More.
HCFA tells states how to comply with Olmstead decision
Washington, DC January 14 -- Letters to Governors and state Medicaid directors from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services tel states it's time to comply with last June's Olmstead Supreme court decision. More.
Activists to rally over ADA Court rulings
A large disability rights rally planned for Feb. 11 in Little Rock, Arkansas is the latest effort to alert crips to the judicial crisis facing the Americans with Disabilities Act. More.
ADA Title 2 case to get re-hearing
Baltimore, Dec. 28 -- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has agreed to re-hear a case that could have repercussions on Title 2 of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The State of Maryland, which lost the case Amos v. Maryland Dept. of Public Safety & Correctional Services, had argued that it should not be bound by Title 2 of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires state governments to obey the civil rights statute. Maryland's petition seeks to have the 4th Circuit declare the ADA unconstitutional.
Read more on challenges to Title 2's constitutionality.
Workers Fired for Apparent Mental Disorders
DOJ Wants Tennessee Laws Changed
Copyright The Disability News Service, Inc.
The U.S. Department of Justice has intervened in a lawsuit against Weakley County, Tennessee's 911 emergency communications center for firing two former 911 dispatchers.
The action by the DOJ challenges a Tennessee state law prohibiting people who are not free of "any apparent mental disorder" from serving as public safety dispatchers, police officers, corrections officers, youth services officers and sheriffs.
The two dispatchers say they were subjected to psychological tests and removed from their jobs, despite satisfactory job performance, because they were perceived as having some type of mental disorder. Tennessee state law prohibits anyone with an "apparent mental disorder" from serving as an emergency dispatcher. Because of the law, the two were removed from their jobs.
"This lawsuit should send a wake-up call to all state and local governments that they cannot create laws or policies that exclude people from jobs because of disabilities," said the Department of Justice.
Read the entire story
Jury Takes Bite out of Chuck E. Cheese
Copyright The Disability News Service, Inc.
A jury has awarded Madison resident Donald Perkl $10,000 in back pay, $70,000 in compensatory damages and a whopping $13 million in punitive damages in a suit brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against Chuck E. Cheese for discrimination against the employment provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Perkl was fired from his janitorial position at the restaurant because, said a regional manager, the chain did not hire "those kind of people." Perkl has developmental disabilities. The verdict represents the largest monetary award by a jury in an ADA case brought by the EEOC.
Chuck E. Cheese had argued that Perkl's cognitive limitation's left it "highly unlikely" that he experienced any significant distress as a result of his termination. EEOC Chair Ida L. Castro. called the firm's attitude "outrageous."
The job at Chuck E. Cheese was Perkl's first real job; he'd been at sheltered workshops for a number of years.
Read the entire story
Investigators Discover Potential Indicator for Chronic Fatigue
Copyright The Disability News Service, Inc.
The discovery of a potential indicator for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) was among new findings presented at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology's annual meeting held in Chicago in mid-November. Study subjects who took a nutritional supplement, ENADA®, a stabilized oral absorbable form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH), were four times more likely to show an improvement in their CFS symptoms than study participants who took a placebo. Researchers say study results suggest that measuring urinary 5-HIAA can serve as useful predictor of disease activity in people with CFS, and may provide an objective measure of improvement following therapy with NADH.
More on this story
The Work Incentives Act:
What's in the new law?
Information from the Disability News Service
Under existing law, an individual's eligibility for benefits continues for 36 months after returning to work. If during that period the individual becomes unable to work because of the disability, benefits are immediately reinstated. Under the new law, the reinstatement period has been expanded to 60-months. Under the old law, anyone on SSI or SSDI who returns to work is subject to what's called a "continuing disability review" to determine if they are still disabled and eligible for benefits . Under the new law, such reviews will continue, but after January 1, 2002, returning to work will no longer trigger them.
Providing a Medicaid "buy-in" option
It's up to individual states to choose to participate in the new Medicaid "buy-in" option which will become effective next Oct. 1. But if a state decides to participate, then its disabled people aged 16-64 who except for their earning would be eligible for SSI -- or people whose medical condition has improved, even though they are still disabled -- will be able to "buy into" Medicaid and pay premiums and other charges on a sliding fee based on income.
States can require people with incomes above 250 percent of the federal poverty level to pay the full Medicaid premium cost; for people with incomes between 250 percent and 450 percent of the poverty level, premiums may not exceed 7.5 percent of their income. Those with incomes above $75,000 per year must pay the entire premium. States can choose to subsidize the premiums, but cannot use federal funds for them.
Extending Medicare
Currently SSDI beneficiaries who return to work lose cash benefits after their monthly earnings are at or above the substantial gainful activity (SGA) level of $700 for nine months (Medicare benefits do continue for another 39 months for a total of 48 months). Next October 1, the new law will allow Medicare Part A coverage to continue at no cost to the beneficiary for 52 months beyond the current level. Within five years, the General Accounting Office must submit a report Congress that, among other things, examines the effectiveness and cost of extending Medicare Part A coverage to working disabled people, and the need to provide this coverage to people with incomes above the Social Security taxable wage base of $72,600.
Disabled Medicare Part A beneficiaries who also are Medigap policyholders can elect to suspend their Medigap coverage if they are covered under an employer group plan. Medigap coverage can be reinstated if the individual loses group coverage, as long as he or she provides notice of the loss of coverage within 90 days.
Ticket to Work
The new law creates a Ticket to Work program: SSDI and disabled SSI beneficiaries get a "ticket" they can use to purchase employment services, vocational rehabilitation services and other services, such as assistive technology from a provider of their choice. The ticket-to-work program will be phased in at sites selected by the Social Security Administration.
Grants to states
The new law provides for various grants to states for outreach, assistance and "infrastructure," including grants to offer personal assistance services that would enable disabled people to remain employed and earn at least the federal minimum wage and work at least 40 hours per month.
The law provides for various other outreach and assistance programs, demonstration projects, studies, infrastructure grants and reporting requirements.
Read
"A Primer on Work Incentives,"by Leye Jeannette Chrzanowski
from The Disability News Service.
Earlier D.R. Nation stories
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