EdLawConnect Blog

Beginning in 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice investigated complaints against the University of California, Berkeley, that Berkeley’s free audio and video online content was not fully accessible to individuals with disabilities. The primary complaint was filed by the National Association for the Deaf on behalf of members of the public who alleged they could not adequately access course content ...

An individual has a disability under the Title II of the ADA (“ADA”) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (“Section 504”) if he or she has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, has a record of such impairment, or is regarded as having such an impairment.  (28 C.F.R. Part 35.108(a)(1))  Local educational agencies (“LEA”) must ...

Senate Bill 792 (“SB 792”), which went into effect on September 1, 2016, requires employees and volunteers of day care centers (including preschools) licensed by the California Department of Social Services (“CDSS”) to be vaccinated for influenza, pertussis, and measles. The author of SB 792, Senator Mendoza, captured the legislative intent of the bill in the Comments to the Senate Bill Analysis:

Senate Bill 1072, approved by the Governor in September 2016, brings to fruition efforts to guard against students being left unattended on a schoolbus. (Statutes of 2016, ch. 721.) By the 2018-2019 school year, schoolbuses and other qualifying vehicles must be equipped with an alarm system that essentially forces bus drivers to check the bus at the end of a route to make certain all children are off the ...

In early January 2017, the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault, established under the Obama Administration in 2014, released “Preventing and Addressing Campus Sexual Misconduct: A Guide for University and College Presidents, Chancellors, and Senior Administrators.” The Guide, which is available online (click here), offers insight and practical recommendations in six ...

In November 2016, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services published its new I-9 form (click here).  Employers may immediately begin using the new form for new hires and reverifications, and must stop using the old form (identified as version “03/08/13” in the lower left corner) by January 21, 2017.

All employers — public and private — must complete a Form I-9 to document verification of the ...

With studies now showing that “sudden cardiac arrest” is one of the leading causes of death for young people under the age of 25 and student-athletes at a greater risk due to more frequent physical exertion, school districts have been looking for ways to protect student-athletes from physical harm and to reduce potential legal liability.  A new law now addresses this issue.

In the fall of 2016, the ...

On November 22, 2016, the State Chancellor's Office for California Community Colleges and the Statewide EEO and Diversity Advisory Committee published a new EEO and Diversity Best Practices Handbook.  This Handbook provides examples of community colleges which have implemented each of the nine “multiple methods” of promoting Equal Employment Opportunity (“EEO”).  The full Handbook containing ...

On November 22, 2016, a federal court in the Eastern District of Texas halted implementation the Department of Labor’s rule amending the salary basis test for overtime exemptions in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The rule was scheduled to take effect December 1, 2016.  (Nevada v. DOL (E.D.Tex. 11/22/16) No. 4:16-cv-00731.) The court granted a preliminary injunction, which temporarily delays the ...

The Political Reform Act imposes limits on gifts and payments received by local elected officers and designated employees of local government agencies—individuals who are required to file statements of economic interests (aka Form 700) under a local agency’s conflict of interest code.

A “gift” is a payment or other benefit that confers a personal benefit for which the official or employee did not ...