Proposed ADA Amendment
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, was once a landmark law. It banned discrimination in employment, housing, and other areas on the basis of the applicant being disabled. It also required most businesses and buildings to accommodate disabled people. The law's components were hardly controversial among Congress members at the time, passing the House 377–28 and the Senate 91–6. Yet in the decades since, some politicians contend that provisions of the law have been exploited by anti-business lawyers to an unforeseen extent—the number of such lawsuits has almost tripled since 2013. In the Eastern District of Pennsylvania a single Plaintiff is responsible for about 95 lawsuits since 2011.
The ADA Education and Reform Act aims to crack down on such lawsuits, by amending the existing 1990 law to require a "notice and cure" period. The legislation, H.R. 620, passed 225-192 in March 2018. If it clears the U.S. Senate as it's currently written, the bill would require someone to write a demand letter to a business with a general description of the alleged ADA violations before they could file a lawsuit. The business would have 60 days to respond to the letter, then 120 days to remedy the violations. If the business fails to do either, then the matter could go to court.
If you have any questions please give the employment attorneys at Zarwin Baum, David McComb, Zachary Silverstein or Dylan Henry a call at 215-569-2800.