According to the lawsuit, our client was employed by Axel Transportation for one year, from June 2022 to June 2023. Our client’s child has a serious condition that substantially affects one or more major life activities. 

Per the lawsuit, the Chief Operation Officer at Axel Transportation told our client in December 2022 that the company does not offer Family and Medical Leave of Absence (FMLA). 

The lawsuit alleges: 

In or about December 2022, Plaintiff told the COO that Axel would likely be required to provide FMLA in January 2023 due to the size of the company and the number of workers, so they would need more standby drivers to cover any such leave. The COO told Plaintiff that Defendant’s owner and president would not be happy with that. The COO told Plaintiff that Axel did not have FMLA and would not offer it. The COO told Plaintiff she should not ask for FMLA for herself. 

Federal law requires employers with 50 or more employees in a 75-mile radius to provide FMLA for employees who have worked at their company for at least one year and have clocked at least 1,250 hours in that time.

According to the lawsuit, our client informed Axel Transportation she’d request FMLA once she’d worked at the company for at least one year, but on her one-year work anniversary, Defendant terminated Plaintiff Gray’s employment. 

The lawsuit alleges that Defendant falsely claimed it eliminated Plaintiff’s position and in fact assigned Plaintiff’s job responsibilities to another employee who did not have a disabled child. 

According to the lawsuit, as a direct and proximate result of the above-described acts, our client has suffered lost wages and benefits of employment, as well as emotional distress and mental anguish. 

The lawsuit claims Axel Transportation took the alleged actions with malice, willfulness, and reckless indifference to our client’s rights. 

This lawsuit seeks compensation for our client’s lost wages and benefits, emotional distress, punitive damages, attorney’s fees and costs of litigation, and such other relief that this Court deems just and proper.

This case is ongoing. 

For more information, contact attorney Nicole Matlock at nmatlock@kennedyhuntlaw.com. If you or someone you know has been a victim of discrimination, our skilled attorneys at Kennedy Hunt, P.C. may be able to help you. Fill out a questionnaire so we can understand your claim. 

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Graphic by Missouri Disability Foundation

This new state-level data shows 4,751 incidents of physical restraint by Missouri schools from July to December 2022. It also reveals 2,880 incidents where children were placed in forced seclusion. The vast majority of these situations happened in the classroom or school hallways. Though most cases of seclusion and restraint lasted less than 30 minutes, some incidents lasted for more than three hours.   

While the use of seclusion and restraint is not illegal, it should only be used when there is imminent danger of physical harm to self or others. Far too often, vulnerable children are subjected to harmful and even illegal seclusion and restraints in their schools. 

Our attorneys are experts in education and civil rights law. If you or someone you know has been a victim of harmful restraint and seclusion practices in schools, we may be able to help. Fill out a questionnaire so we can better understand your case. 

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Being named a Rising Star is an honor reserved for lawyers who exhibit excellence in practice. Only 2.5% of attorneys in Missouri & Kansas receive this distinction.

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What’s more, of these 28,181 cases of housing discrimination, 55 percent involved discrimination against individuals with disabilities, 19.6 percent were based on racial discrimination and 8.5 percent were against families with kids.

A recent case out of Portland, Oregon, proves just how pervasive housing discrimination, especially against renters, is in this country. In a Nov. 20 article published in the Oregonian, it was revealed that in Portland, landlords are 25 percent more likely to give worse treatment to people of color and immigrants during the rental process.

In a statement released on the same day, Portland’s mayor Ted Wheller, said, “The results from the fair housing report indicate something we have been working to remedy locally, and in our nation — an inherited history of discrimination. I think we can all agree we have much further to go.”   

This type of discrimination is illegal in all states in the U.S.

The U.S. Fair Housing Act bans giving preference to housing based on race, national origin, religion, sex, family status and disability.

The attorneys at Kennedy Hunt P.C. work to ensure that all individuals receive fair housing opportunities.

In one of our cases, we successfully defended victims of housing discrimination in Effingham, Illinois.

U.S. et al. v. Wallschlaeger, 3:14-cv-00129-SMY (S.D. Ill.).

We represented tenants of a trailer park in Effingham, Illinois who were victims of racial discrimination. Our client, a resident of the trailer park, became disabled and invited his niece to move in and assist him with activities of daily living. When she invited her African American boyfriend to live with them, the manager of the mobile home park refused to allow him on the lease. Racial epithets and threats were then directed to the young man. No African Americans had ever lived in the trailer park before. Eventually all three clients had to move from the park. The clients contacted HOPE Fair Housing Center in Chicago, which referred the case to the U.S. Department of Justice. Caucasian and African American testers then visited the park and inquired about possible residency: the Caucasian testers were immediately offered a lease, while the African American testers were discouraged from applying. The U. S. Dept. of Justice filed suit against the owner of the trailer park as well as the managers, and our clients intervened in the case. After lengthy pretrial discovery, the case was eventually settled. Pursuant to a consent decree, our clients were received damages in the amount of $217,500, the landlord paid a civil penalty of $50,000, and the landlord agreed to establishment of nondiscriminatory application process and to Fair Housing training.

If you have been a victim of housing discrimination, we want to help you. Fill out a case questionnaire so the dedicated and skilled attorneys at Kennedy Hunt P.C. can better understand your claim.

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To date, 33 states have adopted the Medicaid expansion. The state of Illinois is one of them, meaning that people living with disabilities in this state has much better odds at being employed than those in states without the expansion. Missouri, on the other hand, has not adopted the Medicaid expansion.

According to the American Journal on Public Health, in states participating in the Medicaid expansion, the number of people reporting not working due to their disability has significantly decreased.

In states without it, Missouri included, people with disabilities are not experiencing any significant employment changes.

In a press release from the University of Kansas, researchers wrote, “In effect, Medicaid expansion is acting as an employment incentive for people with disabilities.”

The benefits of being employed are undeniable. Having both Medicaid coverage and employment allows people with disabilities more independence, increases the amount of people paying taxes and lowers unemployment in states that adopted Medicaid expansion.

At Kennedy Hunt P.C., we believe it is not only essential that individuals with disabilities have the opportunity to work, but that these individuals also work in a non-discriminatory environment.

We have years of experience defending employees who have been discriminated against in the workplace, including individuals with disabilities.

In 2008, we successfully defended a former police officer who was discriminated against in the workplace.

Bouas v. Board of Educ., Mascoutah Comm. U. Sch. Dist., Charge No. 19, (Illinois Human Rights Commission 2008):
This is an employment discrimination case against a school district which initially hired our client, a former police officer, then fired him from his campus monitor job when it learned that he received disability benefits. Our client sought reimbursement, back pay and reinstatement to the job. The case settled. Charge No. 560-2008-02929.

Our expert attorneys want to ensure that employees, including those with disabilities, are not being discriminated against in their workplace. If you believe you’ve experienced workplace discrimination, fill out a case questionnaire so we can better understand your claim.

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