|
|
|
|
|
        |
|
|
 |
JUDICIAL UPDATES California Unruh Civil Rights Act and Disabled Persons Act Do Not Provide for Disability Discrimination Claim Based on ADA In Bass v. County of Butte (9th Circuit Court of Appeals Case No. 04-16705), the federal appellate court rejected employees’ claims of disability discrimination based on two California laws that they believed incorporated the anti-discrimination provisions of Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (“ADA”). The plaintiffs asserted employment discrimination claims against defendant County of Butte and others based on the defendants’ alleged failure to accommodate their work-related injuries. Plaintiffs raised their employment claims under California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act (“Unruh”) and Disabled Persons Act (“DPA”) on the theory that the two state laws incorporate the ADA. The district court granted summary judgment for the defendants and the plaintiffs appealed. The Court of Appeals upheld the district court opinion. The Unruh Act and the DPA focus on ensuring that persons with disabilities have equal access to public businesses, facilities and other accommodations. The plaintiffs argued that amendments to the Unruh Act and the DPA in 1992 and 1996 expanded the laws and made them state law vehicles for enforcing the ADA’s employment protections. After reviewing the statutory schemes of the laws and legislative history, the Court of Appeals concluded that the California legislature intended to incorporate into the Unruh Act and the DPA only those provisions of the ADA germane to the original scope of the state laws. In the absence of any express indication by the state legislature that it intended the amendments to drastically expand the subject matter of the two statutes or to overrule legal precedent, the Court of Appeals held that only those provisions of the ADA that are germane to the statutes’ original subject matter were incorporated into the Unruh Act and the DPA. Accordingly, the employees could not use these state laws to assert employment discrimination claims. NEXT: Employer Had Legitimate Business Reason, Based in Part on Financial Problems, to Discharge Employee Who Had Disability
|
|
|
|
|
 |
