Fedex is sued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The federal government awards $251 million to prepare
people with disabilities for competitive integrated employment.
This and more on today's episode of the disability news report.
This is the disability news report with host Arthur Aston.
A lawsuit was recently filed against fedex by
the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The lawsuit claims that Fedex violated the Americans
with Disabilities Act by requiring employees with medical restrictions
to take unpaid medical leave until they were 100% healed
even though employees could perform essential functions of
the job with or without reasonable accommodations,
Fedex had the employees take a medical leave of absence.
It is alleged that by doing this, fedex violated the
ADA
because the company did not offer to provide accommodations to these employees
by fedex having a 100% healed policy for employees placed on unpaid medical leave.
This meant that employees could only return to
work when they no longer had medical restrictions.
This is an issue because it
potentially excludes individuals who have disabilities.
The EEOC said in a press release that under the
ADA employees have an obligation to explore reasonable accommodations and to not
screen out qualified individuals with disabilities who can perform their jobs.
Four years ago,
fedex Ground was sued and agreed to pay $3.3
million because they failed to accommodate employees with hearing impairments
lawsuits. Like these are important to highlight because
while a company may deny an employee's reasonable accommodation request,
they are required by law under the Americans with Disabilities Act to
examine options to grant reasonable accommodations
for employees who may need them.
We will be providing an update on this lawsuit as new details become available
long COVID rate among disabled people is double that of able bodied individuals.
As recently as August 31st 2024 there were very high levels
of COVID-19 in 23 states and territories in the United States.
22 states and territories of the United States reported
that high levels of COVID-19 diagnoses were present.
A report recently confirmed that people who had
disabilities before being diagnosed with COVID are now experiencing
more symptoms of long COVID than those who did
not have disabilities before being diagnosed with COVID-19.
A report recently confirmed that those who had
disabilities before being diagnosed with COVID-19 are now experiencing
more symptoms of long COVID than those who did
not have disabilities before being diagnosed with COVID-19.
The American Journal of Public Health Reports,
a study that recently was conducted this study
compared long COVID rates among 2262 disabled participants
in the
Ku National survey on health and disability
and 2725 non disabled participants
in the centers for disease control prevention's household pulse survey.
The results of the comparison between the two
groups showed that 40% of the disabled participants reported
having long COVID symptoms versus only 18 of the
non disabled participants who reported experiencing long COVID symptoms
of those participants with disabilities,
Long COVID was found to be more common
among those experiencing chronic illness and mental illness,
with sensory disabilities, like blindness and deafness,
having the lowest rate of long COVID symptoms.
As mentioned at the beginning of this story,
COVID-19 continues to be diagnosed around the country
and around the world in high numbers.
This article emphasizes the fact that those living with disabilities have greater
barriers to care whether it is transportation cost or other challenges.
The disabled community remains at risk
for contracting COVID-19 and experiencing long
COVID symptoms in higher numbers than those who are not disabled.
Our next story is the United States government awards $251
million to prepare people with disabilities for good jobs.
The federal government through the United States
Department of Education recently awarded $251 million to
27 higher education institutions and other agencies
to assist people with living with disabilities,
having access to higher paying jobs.
The money was awarded through a five year
grant given by the Disability Innovation Fund program.
Dif the dif program prepares individuals for competitive integrated employment,
enabling youth and adults with disabilities to be paid good wages
while gaining employment in some of today's most in demand fields.
Us Secretary of Education Miguel Pardon
notes the importance of providing additional
opportunities for those living with disabilities
that promote competitive, integrated employment
so that they can be financially independent,
competitive, integrated employment or cie
is any work that is full time or part time
work that is compensated at or above minimum wage and comparable to
the customary rate paid by the employer to employees without disabilities,
performing similar duties with similar training
and experience work that receives the
same level of benefits provided to
other employees without disabilities in similar positions
at a location where employees
interact with other individuals without disabilities
presents opportunities for advancement similar to
other employees without disabilities in similar positions.
For these grants that were recently awarded. Over 200 applications were received.
The projects must fit within one of the following topics,
broadening access to advanced technology careers and creating a 21st century
workforce of youth and or adults with disabilities leading to cie
innovative applications of advanced technology to support
youth and or adults with disabilities.
Leading to cie
justice involved youth with disabilities
including early intervention and reintegration
from the juvenile justice system to the community. Leading to cie
early intervention and workforce reintegration strategies for youth and
or adults with acquired disabilities that lead to cie
early intervention and workforce reintegration
strategies for disconnected youth and or
disconnected adults with disabilities that lead to C ID field initiated under
which applicants address innovative topic areas
and not otherwise included in this
priority or combine two or more topic areas into one application.
Those who received the grant represent 16 states,
the district of Columbia and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands.
13 institutions of higher education,
nine nonprofits
for state agencies,
one institution of higher education
or a special institution.
Our final story today is a follow up to
the Paralympic Games that were recently held in Paris.
A record 15.4 million total viewers watched the Paris
2024 Paralympic Games across all NBC Universal platforms.
The 2024 Paralympic Games were recently held in Paris, France.
This coverage of the Paralympics was shown across multiple
platforms owned by NBC Universal including C NBC NBC,
the USA Network, Peacock and Telemundo
NBC Universal streamed 1500 hours of the 22 Paralympic
Sports during the 12 days of the Paralympic Games
coverage on NBC averaged a total audience delivery of 1.2 million viewers which
is up 31% from the 2021 Paralympic Games held in Tokyo live.
Weekday coverage on the USA network was up 113%
over the comparable Tokyo coverage led by Peacock. The 2024 Paris Para
Olympic Games delivered 207 million streaming minutes.
It has been reported that 15.4 million
viewers watched the Paralympic Games this year
prime time coverage that was on NBC on September 1st from 7 to 9 p.m.
averaged 1.8 million viewers making it the
second most watched paralympic telecast on record.
The program included highlights of the opening ceremony
and the first two days of the competition,
Toyota was the presenting sponsor for the
broadcast coverage of the 2024 Paralympic Games.
And NBC Universal reported that there was a 60% increase
in advertisement sales compared to the 2021 Tokyo Paralympic Games.
Team USA won a total of 105 medals at this year's Paralympic Games
with 36 gold medals, 42 silver medals and 27 bronze medals.
Team USA came in third in the medal count behind team
China in first place and team Great Britain in second place.
We are looking forward to the 2028 Paralympic Games taking place in Los Angeles,
California.
And we will keep you up to date between now and then on all of the great
things that team USA is doing as they prepare
for the next Paralympic Games in four years.
We thank you for watching this episode of the disability news report.
This is the disability news report with host Arthur Aston.