From the Penny for your thoughts blog at GettingHired.com:On January 16, 2009, the Civil Rights Division of the U. S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reached a settlement agreement with Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). to improve access for people with disabilities at the company’s many locations, nationwide. The agreement resolves several complaints which people with disabilities had filed with the department, alleging that Wal-Mart had refused to make reasonable modifications to its rules, policies, procedures and practices to accommodate their needs. Many of the complaints alleged that people with disabilities were denied access to Wal-Mart stores or were denied an equal opportunity to shop, free of repeated challenges by Wal-Mart staff, because they were accompanied by service animals.
The settlement agreement covers all facilities located in the United States where Wal-Mart sells any good or service to members of the public, including all Wal-Mart stores, Supercenters, Sam’s Clubs, and Neighborhood Markets. The settlement agreement, which will be monitored for three years, by the DOJ Civil Rights Division to assure the corporation’s compliance, requires Wal-Mart to take several actions to improve store access for its customers with disabilities.
Wal-Mart will be expected to develop, implement, and train its employees concerning a new corporate-wide policy with respect to service animals and the people with disabilities who rely on them to accomplish the tasks of daily life. Managers and greeters, who will have specific responsibilities under the new policy, will receive specific training in the legal protections that Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act guarantees people with disabilities, including those who utilize service animals.
Wal-Mart will post the new corporate policy on its web site and in stores where employees can be expected to see it, and the corporation will establish a toll-free hot-line where people with disabilities can report alleged violations of the policy and the law, and file grievances. Wal-Mart will be expected to investigate such complaints, immediately, and to take appropriate steps to correct violations if any are found and provide relief to complainants. In addition, Wal-Mart employees will be expected to assist customers with disabilities to locate, lift and carry items when they request such assistance while shopping at Wal-Mart stores.
Under the settlement agreement, Wal-Mart will also pay $150,000 into a fund to compensate certain individuals with disabilities who filed administrative complaints with DOJ alleging Wal-Mart’s refusal to make reasonable modifications, including the denial of equal access to people with disabilities who use service animals. The Civil
Rights Division will determine which complainants are to receive damages from the fund and the amount of damages to be received.
Wal-Mart will also pay an additional $100,000 into a fund which the Civil Rights Division will use to finance a public service announcement campaign to increase public awareness of the access rights of people with disabilities who use service
animals. The nature and scope of the public service announcement campaign will be determined by the Civil Rights Division.
The settlement agreement is posted on the Department of Justice’s ADA Home Page at http://www.ada.gov/, and you can find a fact sheet that summarizes the requirements of the settlement agreement here: www.ada.gov/walmartfctsht.htm
It is reassuring to know that, nearly two decades after passage of the Americans
with Disabilities Act, the Civil Rights Division at the U. S. Department of Justice continues to remain alert to corporations and others who still ignore the civil rights of people with disabilities. It is good to know that anyone with a disability who encounters discrimination on the basis of his or her disability can easily file a complaint with the Department http://www.ada.gov/t3compfm.htm, that complaints will be investigated, and, where patterns of discrimination are found to exist, solutions will be mediated, and remedies sought.I am reassured to know that the Disability Rights Section in the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division will be monitoring this, and other settlement agreements, to assure compliance and to guarantee my civil rights under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
And, it is good to know that, as of January 16, 2009, those of us who are guided by our service animals to the Sam’s Club shelves where the Milk Bones are sold in bulk won’t have to deal any longer with greeters who shout that we can’t bring our dogs into the store, or who ask to see our “IDs.” No more hearing the footsteps of
employees who tell us we have to wait while they go get the manager (to kick us out), and maybe, if we’re lucky, no more encounters with terrified clerks who don’t understand that our dogs, who are trained to perform services that allow us to cope with disabilities, are not aggressive. The only things our guide dogs protect us from are tripping over curbs and falling down stairs and walking in front of moving vehicles. They do not bite!
So, our shopping experiences at Wal-Mart stores should improve, and we can all hope that, as business owners and corporations are made aware of the DOJ-Wal-Mart settlement agreement, our collective shopping experiences at other
businesses and stores where customers are served, will improve as well.
