Melissa Kaplan's
Chronic Neuroimmune Diseases
Information on CFS, FM, MCS, Lyme Disease, Thyroid, and more...
Last updated January 1, 2014

ADA Information Line
The U.S. Department of Justice provides information about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) through a toll-free ADA Information Line. This service permits businesses, State and local governments, or others to call and ask questions about general or specific ADA requirements including questions about the ADA Standards for Accessible Design.

ADA specialists are available Monday through Friday from 10:00 AM until 6:00 PM (eastern time) except on Thursday when the hours are 1:00 PM until 6:00 PM. Spanish language service is also available. For general ADA information, answers to specific technical questions, free ADA materials, or information about filing a complaint, call: 800 - 514 - 0301 (voice); 800 - 514 - 0383 (TDD).

ADA Technical Assistance Documents

Other technical assistance guides are available at the DOJ ADA site; some are online, others available for free by ordering the booklet through their toll-free number or by fax.

If you don't already have an Adobe reader, you can download one for free at the Adobe Acrobat Reader site.

Filing Complaints
Title I: Employment practices by units of State and local government: Complaints are to be filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission field office covering your area. Call 800-669-4000 (voice) or 800-669-6820 (TDD) to reach the field office in your area.

Title II: Programs, services and activities of State and local government

Title III: Public accommodations and commercial facilities (private businesses and non-profit service providers). Standard form for filing a complaint under title II of the ADA or section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability by State and local governments and by recipients of federal financial assistance. See Title II Highlights for more information.

Title II and III complaints should be filed with:

Disability Rights Section
Civil Rights Division
U.S. Department of Justice
Post Office Box 66738
Washington, D.C. 20035-6738

If you wish the complaint to be resolved through the Department's ADA Mediation Program, please mark "Attention: Mediation" on the outside of the envelope.

Commonly Asked Questions About The ADA and Law Enforcement
Deals with the recognition and sensitivity of law enforcement officers in their dealings with disabled civilians. There is another document dealing with law enforcement agencies and their hiring practices, Questions and Answers: The ADA and Hiring Police Officers.

Additional Agencies That Provide ADA Assistance

Agency Abbreviations
ADA - Americans with Disability Act
DBTAC - Disability and Business Technical Assistance Centers
DOE - Department of Education
DOJ - Department of Justice
DOT - Department of Transportation
DREDF - Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund
NIDRR - National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research

ADA Tests and Rulings Related to MCS
28 CFR Part 36: Test A: Nondiscrimination on the basis of disability by public accommodations and in commercial facilities.

Letter to Jefferson County Weed and Pest Management Specialist regarding reasonable accommodation to notification and altering spraying schedules.

Letter to complaintant re the wearing of fragrances by staff at the Cinncinati Medical Center.

Letter to complaintant re City and County of San Francisco's revised policy on fragrances at public meetings

Architectural & Transportation Access Board Adopts "Fragrance Free" Policy

Fragrance-Free, Reasonable Accommodation?
EQUAL TIMES, Vol. 6, No. 1 June, 2000
U.S. Department of Justice, Justice Management Division

A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employee diagnosed with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity filed an EEOC complaint charging that her agency failed to provide her with a reasonable accommodation when it refused to provide her with a fragrance-free work environment. Ruling in favor of the FAA, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit stated that the requested accommodation would be "impractical and virtually impossible" for the agency to enforce. Noting that to accommodate the employee, the FAA would be required to prohibit and police all her co-workers from wearing any "scents," and to rid its work space from many common, scent-producing products such as cleaning supplies, the court ruled that the accommodation was not "objectively reasonable." Montenez-Denman v. Slater, No. 98-4426, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, March 1, 2000.

[Melissa Kaplan notes: It isn't difficult to police employees wearing fragranced products: they either cause a reaction or they don't. As for cleaning products, there is an increasing range of products that are fragrance-free and tolerable by those with MCS. Unless this employee was a working with the general public, which would be more difficult control, this is just a case of not thinking things through. If cigarettes can be banned, so can perfumes, fragranced body lotions and soaps, after-shave, fragrance deodorants, etc. It is not as if alternatives do not exist. A private, well-ventilated work area is another option, as is providing the chemically reactive employee with a comfortable respirator that will not interfere with her ability to perform her job functions to use when on the job and accessing the facility.]

Related Sites
U.S. Department of Justice's ADA Site

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