mental disability – Overlawyered

Great moments in public employee tenure

Walter Olson — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 15:58:37 +0000

New York State has agreed to pay $6 million to settle claims that disabled residents of a Bronx group home for developmentally disabled adults were physically abused and neglected by staff, and the state has also spent a further $5.7 million thus far defending the staff members in court [Benjamin Weiser, New York Times] However, don’t assume that any public employees lost their jobs:

A state investigation later substantiated allegations of misconduct by 13 workers.

But the state failed to fire any of the employees, The New York Times reported in June.

A state arbitration process shielded the workers who had been cited for abuse and neglect. They were typically sent to other jobs in the system.

As part of the settlement, lawyers representing families insisted that the group home be removed from the control of the New York state government. [cross-posted at Cato at Liberty with some additional comments on privatization and accountability]

Tags: mental disability, New York state, public employment

Great moments in public employee tenure is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

See something, say something, then get ready for bias charges or a lawsuit

Walter Olson — Tue, 21 Jun 2016 09:43:51 +0000

“The common thread among suspects in these mass shootings and terroristic incidents is not merely that they had mental health issues and an attraction to extremist political ideologies. In each case, the concerned people in those killers’ lives failed to speak up or their warnings were dismissed when they did.” And the structure of legal incentives created by wide-sweeping high-penalty discrimination and privacy laws (which cover categories like mental illness by way of the ADA) may not be entirely unrelated to that phenomenon. [Noah Rothman, Commentary] “No Psych Exam for Orlando Shooter Despite Odd Behavior, FBI Probes” [NBC News]

Tags: discrimination law, mental disability, terrorism, testing

See something, say something, then get ready for bias charges or a lawsuit is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Profs: considering credit history could violate rights of mentally ill

Walter Olson — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:11:33 +0000

Various federal laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act and Fair Housing Act, prohibit discrimination against disabled persons, and mental illness is a disability. And so — say three professors — businesses may be violating these laws by dinging credit applicants for poor credit history unless they make allowance for persons whose poor financial choices were the result of mental illness. Bonus: citation to authority of “United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (which the United States has signed)” [Christopher Guzelian, Michael Ashley Stein, and H. S. Akiskal, SSRN via @tedfrank]

Tags: banks, disabled rights, housing discrimination, international law, mental disability, mortgages, United Nations

Profs: considering credit history could violate rights of mentally ill is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system