The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) final rule on the accessibility of web content and mobile apps under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) goes into effect June 24, 2024. With limited exceptions, the rule...more
5/2/2024
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Final Rules ,
Public Accommodation ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Title II ,
Title III ,
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) ,
Website Accessibility ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites
On December 5, 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States in Acheson Hotels, LLC v. Laufer, declined to substantively address a question businesses across the country have been eager to resolve: That is, whether a “tester”...more
12/20/2023
/ Acheson Hotels LLC v Laufer ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Article III ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Mootness ,
Public Accommodation ,
SCOTUS ,
Standing ,
Statutory Violations ,
Website Accessibility ,
Websites
On December 5, 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States in Acheson Hotels, LLC v. Laufer, declined to substantively address a question businesses across the country have been eager to resolve: That is, whether a “tester”...more
12/18/2023
/ Acheson Hotels LLC v Laufer ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Article III ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Dismissals ,
Mootness ,
SCOTUS ,
Standing ,
Website Accessibility ,
Websites
On August 4, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) released its highly anticipated proposed changes to the regulations implementing Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). Title II prohibits state and...more
Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case in which the question presented is whether an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) “tester” has Article III standing to challenge a place of public...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that a disabled Florida resident has standing to sue a Maryland hotel under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), despite that Florida resident (the ...more
The historical uncertainty regarding whether businesses must have websites and mobile applications that are accessible to persons with disabilities has been, in part, the result of the absence of regulatory direction as to...more
On April 7, 2021, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Winn-Dixie Stores’ websites are not “public accommodations” and therefore are not subject to the accessibility requirements of Title III of the Americans with...more
A class action lawsuit filed in September 2020 against Nike alleging that its policy requiring retail employees to wear Nike-branded, opaque masks discriminated against deaf and hard of hearing consumers under Title III of...more
Summary -
In a class action lawsuit pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, a consumer-plaintiff alleged that Nike Inc.’s policy requiring employees to wear opaque, Nike-branded...more
Lawsuits and demand letters relating to the accessibility of websites continue to be filed at a rapid pace in 2020, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic has increased consumer reliance on the internet for purchases of goods...more
On April 24, 2020, the Maryland Department of Labor launched a new application, the BEACON One-Stop (Beacon), for online claims filing. Beacon provides Marylanders with a single platform to file claims for unemployment...more
On April 3, 2020, Governor Larry Hogan issued an order providing guidance on evictions and failure to pay rent actions and, until the state of emergency and health emergency are over, prohibiting: repossession of cars,...more
Litigation surrounding the accessibility of online services continues to evolve. On January 15, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the website and mobile app of Domino's Pizza must comply with...more
1/21/2019
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Dominos ,
Due Process ,
Public Accommodation ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Title III ,
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) ,
Website Accessibility ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites
On August 29, 2018, Delaware Governor John Carney, signed into law House Bill 360, expanding sexual harassment protections for workers. The new law will take effect January 1, 2019. ...more
9/4/2018
/ #MeToo ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Corporate Culture ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employment Policies ,
Harassment ,
Hostile Environment ,
New Legislation ,
Risk Management ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws
Employers across the country continue to face potential litigation over the accessibility of their websites to individuals with disabilities. The increase in website accessibility litigation under the Americans with...more
8/24/2018
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Public Accommodation ,
Title III ,
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) ,
Website Accessibility ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites ,
Winn-Dixie Stores
The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis was extended by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit last week in Gaffers v. Kelly Services, Inc. ...more
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker recently signed into law the Massachusetts Noncompetition Agreement Act. The Act imposes significant changes to the treatment and requirements of noncompetition agreements under...more
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that employers can lawfully require employees to resolve employment disputes through individual arbitration rather than by joining other employees in class or collective actions....more
5/23/2018
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Epic Systems Corp v Lewis ,
Ernst & Young v Morris ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Murphy Oil v NLRB ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Savings Clause ,
SCOTUS
The Maryland Healthy Working Families Act requires certain Maryland employers to offer paid sick leave to their employees. It took effect on February 11, 2018— 30 days after the legislature overrode Governor Larry Hogan's...more
The U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously upheld a Department of Labor (DOL) rule which extended the Fair Labor Standard Act’s (FLSA) minimum wage and overtime protections to certain home...more
8/26/2015
/ Appeals ,
Companionship Exemptions ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Home Health Agencies ,
Home Health Care ,
Home Healthcare Workers ,
Minimum Wage ,
Third-Party Agents ,
Unpaid Overtime
The U.S. Supreme Court sided with the EEOC today and clarified the standard for religious accommodation and disparate-treatment claims under Title VII. The Court ruled that an applicant can advance a disparate-treatment claim...more
6/3/2015
/ Abercrombie & Fitch ,
Disparate Treatment ,
EEOC v Abercrombie ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Clothing ,
Religious Discrimination ,
Retailers ,
SCOTUS ,
Title VII
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently announced that it brought (and resolved) an enforcement action against a company for allegedly discouraging whistleblower complaints by requiring employees to sign...more
In Opalinski v. Robert Half International, Inc., the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that where an arbitration clause is silent as to the availability of classwide arbitration, that issue should...more
This month, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley is expected to sign the Fairness for All Marylanders Act of 2014 (the Act). The Act prohibits discrimination against transgender individuals in employment, housing, and places of...more