Law Commons^™

Given Equal Weight Under The Law: Expanding Title Vii Protections To Prohibit Weight Discrimination, Chelsea L. Yedinak

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Approximately half of Americans have an overweight or obese body mass index (BMI), yet weight discrimination is legal in nearly every jurisdiction. This means employers can set BMI limits, maximum weights, waist sizes, and more with no legal consequences. This Note examines the history of anti-fat bias and weight discrimination and how that motivates weight discrimination in employment and in the law generally. It then discusses possible solutions. Currently, most scholars propose prohibiting weight discrimination on a state level through legislation similar to Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act or on a federal level by recognizing obesity as a disability protected …

To Bar Or Not To Bar: Title I Of The Ada And After-Acquired Evidence Of A Plaintiff's Failure To Satisfy Job Prerequisites, Kathryn Johnson-Monfort

William & Mary Business Law Review

Through enactment of Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, Congress unequivocally resolved to prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability in the workplace. However, distortions have since created loopholes through which disability-based employment discrimination may freely slip. An enforcement regulation promulgated by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enables such circumvention of the ADA by creating an additional prima facie requirement: a plaintiff must not only be able to perform the essential functions of the position as required by the statute, but must also satisfy all job-related requirements of the position as demanded by the …

Digital Accessibility In The Hospitality And Tourism Industry: Legal And Ethical Considerations, Debra D. Burke, Kenneth J. Sanney, Dan Clapper

William & Mary Business Law Review

Federal law requires accessibility for public sector websites. What about the web pages and apps of hotels, restaurants, and tourism providers? The Americans with Disabilities Act may cover private sector websites if they are considered a place of public accommodation, but the law is unclear. This Article will provide an overview of the legal responsibilities of operators to provide accessibility to persons with disabilities, discuss the World Wide Web Consortium’s guidelines for web accessibility, and argue that the hospitality and tourism industry has a unique ethical obligation to fill in the gap where the legal system has failed this population.

The Blind Leading The Deaf: An Investigation Of The Inconsistent Accommodations The Justice System Provides To People Who Are Deaf, Elizabeth Pindilli

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Historically, and to this day, people with disabilities have not been considered capable of determining their own needs. Instead, the general population has taken it upon themselves to dictate what accommodations they shall receive. This becomes particularly problematic for the deaf community when interacting with the criminal justice system, where a lack of communication is synonymous with a lack of justice. In this situation, the state should defer to the individual’s understanding of their needs, or carry the burden of proving that another accommodation is equally effective.

Disaggregated Discrimination And The Rise Of Identity Politics, George Rutherglen

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

The Website Accommodations Test: Applying The Americans With Disabilities Act To Websites, Ashley Cheff

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

In 2017, 814 lawsuits were filed alleging discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) due to website inaccessibility, up from 262 in the previous year. Beginning in July 2010, the federal Department of Justice (DOJ) considered issuing regulations under ADA Title III related to website accessibility. However, no changes have been made to date, leaving courts split over whether websites constitute places of public accommodation via the ADA. Dispositive to some jurisdictions’ holdings is whether a website has a nexus to a physical place, which may lend toward viewing the site as a public accommodation. Other jurisdictions provide that …

A Reasonable Solution For Working Parents: Expanding Reasonable Accommodation Under The Americans With Disabilities Act To Parents Of Children With Disabilities, Katherine Lease

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

There is a growing intersection between a woman’s child-rearing and work responsibilities, but federal law inadequately addresses this issue. For mothers who have a child with a disability, they face increased parenting demands, which often lead to detrimental changes in their employment status and negative perceptions of their work ability and commitment. Many women face expectations to simultaneously be the perfect mother and the ideal worker, but this is largely unattainable when faced with the demands of raising a child with a disability.

This Note will explore the development and inadequacy of the current protection against association discrimination, that is, …

The Costs Of Easy Victory, Michael E. Waterstone

William & Mary Law Review

Studies of law and social change often focus on areas of intense conflict, including abortion, gun rights, and various issues around race, gender, and sexual orientation. Each of these has entered the culture wars, inspiring fierce resistance and organized countermovements. A reasonable assumption might be that social change in less controversial areas might be easier. In this Article, I suggest that it is not that simple. Using the disability rights movement, I demonstrate how flying under the radar leads to unappreciated obstacles. The disability rights movement had a relatively easy path to the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act …

Mitigating The Impact Of Title Vii's New Retaliation Standard: The Americans With Disabilities Act After University Of Texas Southwestern Medical Center V. Nassar, August T. Johannsen

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Section 3: Civil Rights, Institute Of Bill Of Rights Law, William & Mary Law School

Supreme Court Preview

No abstract provided.

Height Discrimination In Employment, Isaac B. Rosenberg

W&M Law Student Publications

This Article looks critically at heightism, i.e., prejudice or discrimination against a person on the basis of his or her height. Although much scholarship has focused on other forms of trait-based discrimination—most notably weight and appearance discrimination, both of which indirectly involve height as a component—little has focused on “pure” height discrimination. Nevertheless, within the past five years courts, scholars, and legislatures have increasingly tackled these non-traditional forms of discrimination. As such, this Article endeavors to fill the gap in the existing scholarship.

This Article specifically focuses on heightism in the workplace, with an emphasis on prejudice against short people …

The Mythic 43 Million Americans With Disabilities, Ruth Colker

William & Mary Law Review

Although Congress stated in its first statutory finding that it intended the Americans with DisabilitiesA ct (ADA) to protect at least 43 million Americans from disability discrimination, the Supreme Court has interpreted this statute so that it covers no more than 13.5 million Americans. More importantly, this Article demonstrates through the use of Census Bureau data that the ADA's employment discrimination provisions have been eviscerated to the point that the ADA protects virtually no Americans who are both disabled and able to work. This Article places that problem in the larger context of the Court undermining Congress's efforts to protect …

Beyond Disability Civil Rights, Michael Ashley Stein, Penelope J.S. Stein

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Disability And Employment Discrimination At The Rehnquist Court, Anita Silvers, Michael E. Waterstone, Michael Ashley Stein

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Disability, Disparate Impact, And Class Actions, Michael Ashley Stein, Michael E. Waterstone

Faculty Publications

Following Title VII's enactment, group-based employment discrimination actions flourished due to disparate impact theory and the class action device. Courts recognized that subordination that defined a group's social identity was also sufficient legally to bind members together, even when relief had to be issued individually. Woven through these cases was a notion of panethnicity that united inherently unrelated groups into a common identity, for example, Asian Americans. Stringent judicial interpretation subsequently eroded both legal frameworks and it has become increasingly difficult to assert collective employment actions, even against discriminatory practices affecting an entire group. This deconstruction has immensely disadvantaged persons …

Emergency Preparedness And Disability, Michael E. Waterstone, Michael Ashley Stein

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Definition Of Disability In The Americans With Disabilities Act: Its Successes And Shortcomings: Proceedings Of The 2005 Annual Meeting, Association Of American Law Schools Sections On Employment Discrimination Law; Labor Relations And Employment Law; And Law, Medicine And Health Care, Sharona Hoffman, Paul Steven Miller, Chai R. Feldblum, Michael Ashley Stein

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Beyond Breimhorst: Appropriate Accommodation Of Students With Learning Disabilities On The Sat, Nancy Leong

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Same Struggle, Different Difference: Ada Accommodations As Antidiscrimination, Michael Ashley Stein

Faculty Publications

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was heralded as an "emancipation proclamation" for people with disabilities, one that would achieve their equality primarily through its reasonable accommodation requirements. Nevertheless, both legal commentators and Supreme Court Justices assert that the ADA's employment mandates distinguish the ADA from earlier antidiscrimination measures, most notably Title VII, because providing accommodations results in something more than equality for the disabled. The Article challenges this prevalent belief by arguing that ADA-mandated accommodations are consistent with other antidiscrimination measures in that each remedies exclusion from employment opportunity by questioning the inherency of established workplace norms, and by …

The Americans With Disabilities Act As Welfare Reform, Samuel R. Bagenstos

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reasonable Accommodation Of Workplace Disabilities, Stewart J. Schwab, Steven L. Willborn

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Disabiling The Ada: Essences, Better Angels, And Unprincipled Neutrality Claims, Aviam Soifer

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Law And Economics Of Disability Accommodations, Michael Ashley Stein

Faculty Publications

The Americans with Disabilities Act provides a clear mandate that disabled workers be provided with "reasonable" accommodations, but does not meaningfully articulate the standards by which reasonableness ought to be measured. Until now, neither courts nor commentators have provided a systematic model for analyzing accommodation claims. This Article articulates an initial law and economics framework for analyzing disability-related accommodations. In doing so, it demonstrates how accommodations span a cost continuum that can be divided into areas of Wholly Efficient and Semi-Efficient Accommodations to be funded by private employers, Social Benefit Gain Efficient Accommodations where the costs should be borne by …

Federal Power, States' Rights, Individual Rights: Mentally Disabled Prisoners And The Supreme Court's New Activism, Tom Kollas

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

This Note examines the situation of mentally disabled prisoners who seek to assert their rights in federal court. Neither laws affecting the disabled nor laws affecting prisoners receive heightened scrutiny by the judiciary, which, thus far, also refuses to recognize the unique burdens of those who fit both categories. Because mentally disabled prisoners do not qualify for heightened scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause, recent developments in the federalism doctrine lead the courts to conclude that they are without jurisdiction to hear suits brought by prisoners against state penitentiaries. This Note explores the underpinnings of federalism, separation of powers, and …

Determining The Intended Beneficiaries Of The Ada In The Aftermath Of Sutton: Limiting The Application Of The Disabling Corrections Corollary, Richard C. Dunn

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Labor Markets, Rationality, And Workers With Disabilities, Michael Ashley Stein

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Lay View Of What "Disability" Means Must Give Way To What Congress Says It Means: Infertility As A "Disability" Under The Americans With Disabilities Act, Deborah K. Dallmann

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Employing The Alcoholic Under The Americans With Disabilities Act Of 1990, Wendy K. Voss

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.