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May 15, 2012
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Jewish World Review
March 30, 2011/ 24 Adar II, 5771
‘Disabling’ America, One Lawsuit at a Time
By
Arnold Ahlert
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
At one point in time I had my own company in another line of work. It was very small, (just me and my wife) and I ran it from my house. There was a particularly annoying aspect of it involving paperwork, the kind that is tedious and time-consuming, and I considered hiring someone else to do it. A young woman I knew, already experienced in filling out such forms, was available and willing to work for us. After giving it some thought, my wife and I decided to pass: the risks of hiring her far outweighed the benefits.
What risks? As I explained to my wife, all that would have had to happen was for her to leave me and the potential employee in the house alone, even for the time it took to go to the store a half-block away, and our entire business could have been destroyed by a "he said-she said" charge of sexual harassment. It didn't matter that I'm not the predator type or that the potential employee had never demonstrated anything remotely resembling that kind of character flaw. In business, if the potential risk is equal to, or outweighs, the benefits of a given investment, one must pass, no matter how reluctantly.
One can only wonder how many other potential employers have made the same calculation.
Which brings me to the latest revisions in the Americans with Disabilities Act, passed in 1990. I have no doubt such legislation was enacted with the best of intentions, that is, to provide genuinely disabled people with the best chance possible to lead the kind of normal life that far too many Americans take for granted.
Yet like most government programs, it has become a Frankenstein monster. In 2008, President Bush signed into law the "ADA Amendments Act of 2008" ("ADAAA"), which clarified and broadened the definition of disability and--just like so many other government programs--expanded the population eligible for protections under the ADA. Thus for example, the new rules now cover "episodic conditions and mitigating measures…expanding disability coverage…many courts had previously concluded were not covered under the ADA," according to law firm Baker Botts L.L.P.
The law firm then states the obvious: "Employers might expect to see an increase in requests for reasonable accommodations, and should review their procedures for responding to such requests to acknowledge this expanded disability coverage. Employers might also expect to see an increase in litigation testing the limits of the new provisions, at least in those states that do not already have more generous state disability discrimination laws."
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Translation: trial lawyers are going a have a field day shaking down businesses on behalf of people whose "disabilities" will undoubtedly stretch decent Americans' credulity to the breaking point. Nothing illustrates this better than a Fox News article on the law in which legal experts reveal the ultimate absurdity:
"Millions of Americans may be disabled and not even know it."
No doubt thousands of ambulance chasers will be more than happy to deliver the "good news." And that's now. As reported by Time Magazine in 2008, "a small group of opportunists and select law firms are responsible for a huge percentage of [ADA] lawsuits," based on non-compliance with the law. How hard is compliance? "Title III of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, covers public accommodations," explains website venturatoday.net. "[ADA] lays out hundreds of requirements--everything from the permissible height of countertops and mirrors in newer or renovated buildings to how heavy swinging entrance doors can be to the exact location where grab bars must be located in toilets, and on and on. A bathroom alone must meet 95 different standards, on one estimate." Thus, lawyers "can find targets with ease."
And they have. Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed all over the country, often by the same plaintiffs on several different occasions. One such plaintiff, Jarek Molski, 38, disabled in a 1985 motorcycle accident that left him a paraplegic, filed 400 ADA lawsuits against a number of businesses, until a federal judge barred him from filing any more. Groups with noble-sounding names such as Citizens Concerned about Disability Access, and Disabled Patriots of America have targeted businesses in Florida, Georgia and New Jersey. Suits can be brought with no time allowed for businesses to become compliant, and in states like California, statutes which allow for $1,000 or $4,000 in minimum damages, plus attorney fees for each violation, can result in tens of thousands of dollars of damage demands. David Warren Peters, CEO and general counsel of Lawyers Against Lawsuit Abuse, illuminated the level of abuse. "Opportunists see this as a great way to make $12,000 a day or more just by eating out," he said.
EEOC Commissioner Chai Feldblum says the current expansion was worked out between the disabled and business communities. "These are workable guidelines that will help people with disabilities, and it will be workable for employers," she said. Yet attorneys for business owners cite an ominous development in the new law: the burden of proof that accommodation is required is being shifted from the employee, who had to prove why such accommodation was merited, to the business owner who will now have to demonstrate why it is not. Attorney Condon McGlothlen explains where this is inevitably leading. "It's going to be very difficult for employers to argue in just about any case that an employee is exaggerating their disability or that the person isn't genuinely disabled," the attorney told Fox News. Commissioner Feldblum adds insult to injury. "I am hopeful that employers will now move to the next question which is, 'How do we make sure our workplace is welcoming to people with a range of health conditions?
Here's the obvious answer to that question, Ms. Feldman. They don't. Many of them will simply stop hiring anyone with a disability. And if government strong arms them regardless, they will respond by not hiring anyone at all--at least until progressives figure out a way to force businesses to hire workers regardless of whether or not they need them.
No doubt such an idea sounds far-fetched. Yet one suspects that most Americans might consider the idea that an employer, already stressed out by a bad economy, might be less than thrilled with the idea of spending more money to accommodate someone with "post-traumatic stress disorder"--which advocates of the expanded statute claim the courts will consider a disability "in virtually all cases" despite the fact that no condition can legally be considered a disability per se.
Only progressives would be delighted by a law which, as stated above, will classify millions of Americans as disabled--without their knowledge. It's a win-win for those who champion the expansion of government entitlements for the "needy," even as it caters to trial attorneys, one of their core constituencies. It will be sold as compassion, even as it gives businesses yet another reason--along with the highest corporate tax rates in the world, ObamaCare mandates, the FinReg bill and a host of other progressive "solutions" to our dismal economy--not to hire.
When the law was first enacted, I used to tell my friends a joke. I said a business owner had two employees, a man and a woman. One day the man says to the woman, "baby, you're one hot number." The woman sues the business owner for sexual harassment in the workplace. The guy claims he's a sex addict and he also sues the owner under the ADA, demanding the accommodation of a private office to keep him away from the woman. The owner, forced to pay both claims, goes under. It used to be good for a few laughs.
I'll bet no one's laughing now--except the moochers and their enablers.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment on JWR Contributor Arnold Ahlert's column, by clicking here.
Previously:
03/28/11: The MSM Kills the ‘Kill Team’ Story
03/23/11: Another Military Scandal
03/21/11: Barry, Joe, Helen and Wisconsin Teachers
03/16/11: The Inevitable Viability of Conservatism
03/14/11: Progressives in Their Own Words
03/09/11: $61 Billion in Cuts --- Vs. $223 Billion in One Month of Spending
03/07/11: Bean Bag B.S.
03/02/11: A ‘Green’ Catastrophe in the Making
02/28/11: Ain't Noting Like the Real Thing
02/23/11: Progressive Rot vs. the ROTC
02/21/11: Wisconsin: Progressivism in All its Ugly Glory
02/18/11: News reporters --- or Narrative Shapers?
02/16/11: The Presidents Budget Proposal: An Obamination of Progressive Profligacy
02/14/11: Only Another 9/11 Will Alter the Illegal Immigration Status Quo
02/10/11: Is O'Reilly losing his touch or is he just irresponsible?
02/07/11: Tossing Britain Under the Bus
02/03/11: Starving the World In Order to Save It
01/31/11: Walking the Middle East Tightrope
01/27/11: Small-scale Terrorist Attacks: Big Strategy?
01/24/11: Jeffery Immelt: A Crony Capitalist In Charge of Job Creation
01/20/11: An ‘Intimate’ Prime-time Interview
01/17/11: Progressives: Always Angry, Newly Desperate
01/12/11: Twain vs. the Totalitarians
01/10/11: Politically Correct Passports?
01/05/11: Showdown at the Fiscal Corral
01/03/11: Reading the Constitution Aloud is a Good Start
12/30/10: Getting Our Moral Mojo Back
12/27/10: PC Airport Safety is an Oxymoron
12/23/10: Getting America Back On Track
12/20/10: A Collectivist Coalition of Convenience
12/15/10: The President Who Wasn't There
12/13/10: Tech-No!
12/08/10: A Lethal Military, Inclusive or Not
12/06/10: The ‘Unexpected’ Consequences of Progressivism
12/01/10: Leakers and Losers
11/29/10: ‘We Won’, Part One
11/22/10: Keep Your Hands Off My Constitution
11/17/10: Grope and Change
11/14/10: Taking Back Our Country, One School At a Time
11/11/10: Checks (and Balances), Please
11/08/10: Curtain Up, Progressives Down
11/04/10: Last Chance, Republicans
11/01/10: By Their Own Words Shall Ye Know Them
10/28/10: Progressive Determination to Undermine American Elections
10/25/10: Shock, but more importantly, action: De-Unionize Public Schools now
10/20/10: Multiculturalism? Check, Please
10/18/10: Healthcare: ‘Alice in Wonderland’ vs. The Constitution
10/11/10: Vote for Restoring the Rule of Law in November
10/11/10: Dems: Running From Clarity
10/07/10: Hypersensitive Hogwash
10/04/10: ‘Comprehensive’ Con Artists
09/29/10: Why Dems Are Going Down in November
09/27/10: The Unholiest of Unholy Alliances
09/22/10: Two Words for Republicans to Remember: ‘I Won’
09/20/10: Purging ‘Me First’ Politicians
09/17/10: No More ‘Lesser of Two Evils’
09/15/10: ‘Recovery’ Arms Race
09/13/10: ‘Bigots’ in the Majority --- Again?
09/09/10: Giving Voters Something to Vote For
09/07/10: Irresponsible Dems, Incomprehensible Bills
09/02/10: War Weary Americans vs. Implacable Islamists
08/31/10: A ‘Dream’ Debased
08/25/10: American ‘Bigots’ Versus Media Propagandists
08/23/10: Recovery Bummer
08/19/10: An Unholy Alliance of Radicals
08/16/10: You've Lost America, Mr. President
08/13/10: The Twin Towers of Progressive Disconnect
08/11/10: A Far Better ‘National Discussion’
08/09/10: It's ‘Only’ One Dead Nun
08/06/10: Incremental Tyranny
08/04/10: Ground Zero Mosque: Context Counts
08/02/10: The Arizona Ruling: a Gift for November
07/29/10: The United Cities of America
07/26/10: JournoList: ‘Coordinated’ Ideological Bankruptcy
07/20/10: Go For Broke Or Get Out of the Way
07/14/10: You're a Liberal/Progressive if You Believe…
07/12/10: $33-an-hour--For Sleeping On the Job
07/08/10: Extortionist Government
07/06/10: ‘Commerce Clause’ Totalitarians
07/01/10: Another Public School Travesty in MA
06/30/10: Calling YOUR Bluff, Mr. President
06/28/10: A Trifecta of Progressive Corruption
06/23/10: Plug the Darn Hole --- In Our Border
06/21/10: Our Empty-Suit-in-Chief
06/16/10: Betraying Our Children
06/14/10: Who Gets the Benefit of the Doubt?
06/07/10: Politically Correct Warfare
06/01/10: Bill Maher's ‘Black’ President
05/25/10: A Mosque At Ground Zero
05/23/10: Libs Stand Tall --- For Mexico
05/19/10: The 'Unintended Consequences' of Liberalism
05/17/10: 'Los' Suns: Stuck on Stupido
05/12/10: Union Audacity: Yes We Will!
05/10/10: Greeks, Leaks and and Double-Speak
05/05/10: Twelve Million Illegals --- or Thirty?
05/02/10: Republicans: Playing Not to Lose Doesn't Cut It
04/28/10: Arizona: Progressivism's Waterloo?
04/26/10: Son of Amnesty
04/22/10: Mortgages and Moral Meltdowns
04/20/10: Bashing Christians — Or Gays?
04/15/10: Personal Integri-‘tea’
04/12/10: Fools, Tools and Ghouls
04/08/10: (Tea) Party On
04/05/10: The Triumph of Mediocrity
04/02/10: Two For the Road
03/29/10: The Innate Immorality of Liberalism
03/24/10: The Art of War
03/22/10: I Want My Country Back
03/18/10: A Perpetual Process
03/17/10: American Exhibitionists
03/15/10: A Light Bulb Moment of Clarity
03/10/10: Little Things Mean A Lot
02/03/10: Budgetary Fork in the Road
02/01/10: Liberal Economic Illiteracy
01/27/10: ‘Roe-ing and Wade-ing’ Back to Reason
01/25/10: Arrogance When Up, Denial When Down
01/20/10: Connecting the Educational Dots
01/19/10: The Next Tea Party?
01/15/10: The Myth That Keeps on Giving
01/13/10: Airport Security Begins Away From the Airport
01/11/10: Secrets and Lies
01/08/10: Embracing Bigotry — or Rejecting Bullying?
01/06/10: Hanging by an Ideological Thread
01/04/10: Our ‘Wonderama’ Bureaucracy
12/30/09: A Day Off
12/28/09: Dangerous Myths
12/25/09: I, Me, Mine
12/23/09: A Very Harry Christmas
12/21/09: My Opinon
12/18/09: The Party of Repeal
12/15/09: Privileged Exemption
11/30/09: ‘Settled’ Science and Unsettled Children
11/30/09: American Sharia Law
11/23/09:The Trial (Travesty) of the Century
11/04/09: American Vampires and Their Political Enablers
11/01/09: ‘Opting Out’ of Insanity?
10/28/09: Cell Phones Cause Brain Cancer. Brain Required
10/26/09: Communism: Nazism With Better PR
10/21/09: Just Asking
10/16/09: Cost Projections vs. Actual Costs, or Hope and Change vs. Reality
10/14/09: News you can use …
10/07/09: Incremental Insidiousness
10/05/09: MIA: Common Sense and Common Decency
09/30/09: Iran: Bad Options and Unpreparedness
09/21/09: Crying Racism: the Last Refuge of Scoundrels
09/11/09: 9/11 Cannot Be Sanitized
09/08/09: ‘Truthers’ and Consequences
09/01/09: A ‘Paper Trail’ Challenge for the Mainstream Media
08/31/09: Drowning in Amorality
08/26/09: The Republican Recovery Program
© 2010, Arnold Ahlert
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