Wasted Time: Teachers' Termination Dispute

Following the uproar raised by the Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) dilemma over the laborious and expensive process of firing substandard permanent teachers, Matthew Kim, a former special education teacher at Grant High School fights back and alleges that he is a victim of disability discrimination.

Kim, 41, has been on administrative leave since 2002 along with full pay and benefits while waiting for the resolution of his case. He’s been charged with inappropriate behavior and sexually harassing two aides and six students. The school district has spent nearly $2 million dollars as the case has dragged on for seven years.

A state panel that oversees contested teacher dismissals has ordered him returned to the classroom twice, having found no evidence that Kim was a bad teacher or had injured his students. But L.A. Unified officials have appealed.

Bound to a wheelchair and diagnosed with cerebral palsy, Kim maintains that he is innocent and that the school principal and the district discriminated against him. Kim said that the principal doesn’t like him and the school has been slow to provide wheelchair accessible facilities and a personal aide. A case of discrimination against the school was filed and lost by Kim, whose mother even took a $130,000 against her house to pay for the case.

About 160 teachers are currently receiving full pay and benefits, District Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines said that these teachers should be fired because according to him, they are “milking the system”.

Kim on the other hand, just wants to resume his career. "I want to go back to the classroom.”

This whole situation just underscores the reason why the existing process for terminating tenured teachers should be overhauled. Not just for the sake of students, schools, or taxpayer’s money but also to help these teachers embroiled in these cases move on.

The teachers unions’ concerns are certainly understandable—the teachers’ rights and interests as employees should be protected. But, not at the cost of putting these teachers’ lives and careers on hold or use up government resources just to engage in an endless tug of war over termination cases.

It’s a just waste.

Employment Rights of a Disabled Person

Under the law, persons with disability (PWD) are given equal opportunity to engage in gainful employment. The employment rights of disabled persons are guaranteed by various federal and state disability rights laws and one of these includes the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

As discussed in the article, “Rehabilitation Act of 1973 Prohibits Discrimination Against Federal Employees with Disabilities”, posted on August 17, 2008, this act is intended to protect employees with disability from discrimination from work or jobs that are “conducted by federal agencies, or programs receiving federal funds and to be employed in businesses with federal contracts”.

Primarily, this Act was designed to help disabled employees in “preparing and engaging in gainful employment to the extent of their capabilities”. In other words, it helps them to find a suitable job and use their skills in employment as a way to improve and ‘rehabilitate’ their lives.

Under the program, an eligible employee has the option either “to develop his own Individualized Plan for Employment Services, which can be tailored to his specific needs through an Individualized Plan for Employment or request the assistance of a qualified vocational rehabilitation counselor to help him in determining his special needs”.

Other federal disability rights laws are also beneficial to disabled employees. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is another law that protects employees against disability discrimination. Like the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, this law also provides employees with necessary adjustments in the workplace called “reasonable accommodation”, also designed to help disabled workers by making changes or improvements in equipment design and functions.

A disabled worker who experiences discrimination issues or finds difficulty at work regarding his disability or impairment can always seek the assistance of an employment lawyer to resolve the problem.

Do We Need a New Law to Protect Disabled Employees from Discrimination?

Last 25 June, the US House of Representatives approved an amendment to the ADA or the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

The ADA is a law which prohibits “private employers, state and local governments and employment agencies and labor unions from discriminating against qualified individuals with disabilities in job application procedures, hiring, firing, advancement, compensation, job training, or in the terms, conditions and privileges of employment.”

Also in places of public acomodation such as schools, restaurants, parks, etc.

This time, the law, termed the ADA Restoration Act of 2008, is born to restore the original intent of the Americans with Disabilities Act.”

In order to give the law more tooth in preventing further discrimination of our disabled citizens, the law is amended to make clear the following, among others.

The ADA should be interpreted broadly to provide ample protection for people who experience disability discrimination.

Impairment that “substantially limits a major life activity, such as caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating and working”, does not need to limit another major life activity to be considered a disability.”

An episodic impairment or impairment in remission is still a disability if it would substantially limit a major life activity when it is active.

It is improper to take into consideration most measures that would reduce the impact of impairment, such as medication, prosthetics, or other technology, when determining if an individual is disabled.

Employees are protected from discrimination if their employers discriminate them because they perceive the employee to have a disability, even in fact there was none.

The law is still “wait and see”, pending approval of the Senate and the signature of the President.

Another Expensive Lesson on Disability Discrimination

I don’t know if the company has some sort of jinx on it or just couldn’t get their people straight.

Just recently, the US Employment Opportunity Commission charged Wal-Mart with yet another discrimination suit. This time it’s disability discrimination lawsuit.

The Commission said that the retail giant refused to hire a man with cerebral palsy who uses crutches or a wheelchair for mobility. Wal-Mart was then preparing to open a new 24-hour Supercenter and was conducting mass hiring.

The company argued that the disability of the applicant will “pose a safety risk to himself or customers if he worked at the store using a wheelchair or crutches.”

The case cost Wal-Mart another $300,000 to pay the rejected applicant. A rather another expensive lesson to learn by Wal-Mart.

Disability discrimination lawsuit is covered by Title I of the ADA. The law prohibits discrimination of employees or applicants based on their disability. Employers who violate the law can be made to pay the discriminated employee or the rejected applicant.

It isn’t an overstatement to say that discrimination of all sorts is still prevalent in the country today. Having a “colored” presidential candidate didn’t and arguably will not change that fact.

What we need is faithful enforcements of laws on discrimination. If we cannot achieve equality of treatments among and between our citizen by plea and rhetoric – I agree that we use the full extent of the law to achieve it.

Even if it cost ‘em a fortune.

“How a Disability Lawyer Assists His Client”

I just read this article, “Using an Attorney to File for Disability”, posted November 22, which pointed out the mistake committed by claimants who submit paper applications, to pursue their benefit claims. The article also noted that submitting a paper application can cause delay in the processing of claims documents. Instead, it advised applicants to apply personally or visit the social security administration website to inquire about application problems.

The article described how busy claims representatives are and to manually type in the information in paper application would take so much of their time. Hence most paper applications are delayed.

The article commented that this process of sending paper applications tend to “disadvantage individuals who apply for disability as well as make life harder for social security employees.” The article also noted how an ordinary employee’s schedule is packed with daily appointment schedules spent mostly on disability applications and retirement claims, along with the burden of attending to walk-in applicants.

The article offered some interesting ideas on how disability lawyers can help their clients getting started on their disability claim:

• Schedule an interview appointment for the client with the local social security office.
• Visit the social security administration website and complete form SSA-3368 (the disability report form)
• Send in several copies of SSA-827 (the medical release form) to social security office, along with the fee agreement and the appointment of representative form (SSA-1696)

By doing this, a disability lawyer can help his client speed up the processing of his paper instead of being dumped into the list of applicants who submitted paper application and awaiting attention.