As of January 1, 2025, Illinois now protects employees who provide family care from discrimination in the workplace. The law means that employees who have “family responsibilities” cannot be discriminated against because of said responsibilities. The law defines family responsibilities as “an employee’s actual or perceived provision of personal care to a family member.” Covered family members include an employee’s child, stepchild, spouse, domestic partner, sibling, parent, mother-in-law, father-in-law, grandchild, grandparent, or stepparent. Examples of “personal care” could include, but is not limited to, taking a family member to the doctor, supporting their medical, hygiene, nutritional, or safety needs, and providing support to a family member suffering from a serious health condition.

This means that employees with family responsibilities are now protected from discrimination, harassment, and protection from retaliation if they allege discrimination on the basis of family responsibilities. 

The attorneys are Kennedy Hunt P.C. are experts in employment rights. You can read about the employment law cases we take on here. If you or someone you know has had their disability rights violated, the 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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According to the AP, the memo says the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission will drop any complaints based on ‘disparate impact liability.’ Disparate impact is discrimination that occurs when a neutral or fair-seeming policy still harms a protected group, even without the intent to discriminate. 

There are many employment discrimination cases emerging because of the growing use of artificial intelligence in hiring, where the disparate impact concept can be applied.

The EEOC’s decision is in line with a previous executive order from President Trump to use the disparate impact concept less in civil rights enforcement because, in the president’s eyes, it creates an undue burden on businesses. But the decision threatens workers’ abilities to seek justice when they experience discrimination in the workplace. 

These cases are still viable, however, regardless of the Trump Administration’s stance against them. The attorneys at Kennedy Hunt P.C. are experts in employment and disability rights. You can read about the employment law cases we take on here. If you or someone you know has had their disability rights violated, the 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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“They’re very controversial,” Kennedy told Fox 2. “The question is, what good do they do? Do the businesses actually make permanent changes that benefit the community or not?”

According to Fox 2, one man in the area has sued more than 70 businesses over the past five years for alleged ADA violations, including missing bathroom signage and doors that are less than the required width. 

The owner of one restaurant told Fox 2 the lawsuits feel “less like an effort to make the community more accessible and more like an opportunistic pattern targeting local businesses.”

Kennedy is further quoted in the article, saying that the ADA requires older buildings to make relatively easy and inexpensive modifications to comply with the law. But he adds that the standards are subjective. 

“You can read the regulations for a long time and never know the answer to that,” he said.

The attorneys at Kennedy Hunt P.C. are experts in the ADA and disability law. If you or someone you know has been a victim of disability 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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Our client is a 33-year-old woman with several medical, behavioral, mental, and developmental disorders and disabilities. For 15 years prior to 2012, our client received medically-necessary support services through the Missouri Department of Mental Health. Specifically, our client was a participant in the Comprehensive Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services Waiver program and received Orientation and Mobility Services and Blindness Services (OMS/BS). In 2009, the Missouri Department of Mental Health approved our client for an in-home Independent Support Living plan, which provided her and her family with assistance in caring for our client’s complex medical and behavioral needs.

From 2009 through September 2012, our client received these services without issue. But in October 2012, the Missouri Department of Mental Health denied our client’s Independent Support Living plan, including her Orientation and Mobility Services and Blindness Services. 

Additionally, The Missouri Department of Mental Health re-coded our client’s OMS/BS supports as Community Specialist services (billed at a rate of $40/hour) as opposed to the Positive Behavior Supports/Person Centered Strategies Consultation services (billed at a rate of $67/hour). 

In effect, the Missouri Department of Mental Health denied our client medically necessary services. On October 23, 2012, a member of our client’s medical team told the director of the Missouri Department of Mental Health that “neither he, nor any other COMS/CBP provider in the St. Louis area would be able to provide M.F. with OMS/BS services if they were billed at that reduced rate.” 

Still, though, the Missouri Department of Mental Health denied our client’s appeals. This is where a years-long fight for our client to receive medically-necessary support services began. 

In 2017, the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District ruled in favor of our client and reversed the lower courts’ rulings that denied our client’s appeals. In effect, the appellate court found that “DMH’s justifications for denying M.F. the medically-necessary OMS/BS service were not supported by substantial and competent evidence.” 

Shortly after, our client filed an application for attorney’s costs and fees, which was denied in the lower court. Our client appealed that decision, which was reversed in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County and affirmed in the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District on Feb. 9, 2021. 

This case is ongoing. For further information, please contact attorney Sarah Jane Hunt at (314) 872-9041 or sarahjane@kennedyhuntlaw.com. If you or someone you know has been a victim of denied Medicaid services, 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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The revision also requires the passenger to provide documentation of the animal’s certification, as well as of their own disability(ies). It’s worth noting that only dogs are considered support animals under this change, leaving all other animals restricted from traveling with their owners’ on planes as support animals. 

What’s more, emotional support animals are now considered as pets under the revision. If brought on a plane, the passenger would have to pay pet travel fees. In the past, emotional support animals were allowed on planes and not charged fees. 

The Americans with Disabilities Act does not consider emotional support animals as service animals. Similar to the Air Carrier Access Act revisions, the ADA defines a service animal as “a dog that has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability.” Under the ADA, emotional support animals do not fall under the service animal category and thus the ADA does not provide a right to an emotional support animal. 

Notably, though, the Fair Housing Act and certain state laws do provide rights to an emotional support animal. For example, the Illinois Human Rights Act in Housing protects the right to an emotional support animal. But the Missouri Human Rights Act does not. Though housing and transportation certainly are different, the discrepancies between the federal and state agencies may prove the lack of widespread understanding of the value and necessity of emotional support animals. 

Curt Decker, executive director of the National Disability Rights Network, spoke with NPR about the harm these new regulations pose to travelers. 

“Now people who do feel they need this kind of support and cannot afford [to pay the pet fee] will now be eliminated from flying,” Decker said. 

The new Air Carrier Access Act rules went into effect at the beginning of 2021. 

If you or someone you know has been a victim of unfair treatment related to a support animal, 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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