The Department of Justice today announced payments by Greyhound Lines, Inc. totaling $2,966,000 to over 2,100 individuals who experienced disability discrimination while traveling or attempting to travel on Greyhound. The payments were part of a broader settlement from 2016 resolving the Department’s complaint that Greyhound, the nation’s largest provider of intercity bus transportation, engaged in a nationwide pattern or practice of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by failing to provide full and equal transportation services to passengers with disabilities.  The $2,966,000 amount is in addition to $300,000 paid by Greyhound in 2016 to specific individuals identified by the Department, bringing the total distributed to individuals to over $3,250,000. To read the press release regarding this event, click here. For more information about the ADA, call the Department’s toll-free ADA Information Line at 800-514-0301 (TDD 800-514-0383) or access the ADA website at www.ada.gov.

The Justice Department announced on February 26 that it reached a settlement agreement under title II of the ADA with the city of Concord, New Hampshire, regarding the accessibility of its voting system.

The settlement agreement resolves a complaint that Concord failed to provide an accessible ballot in city elections for a voter who is blind. Under the agreement, the city of Concord will provide voting machines that are accessible to voters who are blind or visually impaired. The city will have the accessible machines at all of its polling places starting in the November 2019 city election. In addition, the city will provide training to poll workers on the use of the accessible voting machines and will develop educational materials regarding the availability of the machines in city elections.

To find out more about this agreement, or the ADA, call the Justice Department’s toll-free ADA information line at 1-800-514-0301 or 1-800-514-0383 (TDD), or access its ADA website at www.ada.gov.

Today the Justice Department announced that it has reached a settlement agreement with Northern Michigan University (NMU). The settlement agreement resolves complaints under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that NMU discriminated against students with mental health disabilities. Specifically, the Department investigated allegations that NMU took adverse action against certain students with mental health disabilities, including allegations that the University required certain students to sign contracts that barred them from talking, even with their friends at NMU, about self-destructive thoughts or face discipline, including involuntary withdrawal from the University. Under the agreement, NMU agreed to pay a total of $173,500 in compensatory damages to four (4) aggrieved individuals identified by the United States in its investigation. NMU will also adopt and implement policies and conduct training.

For more information about the ADA and the agreement please access the ADA Web page at https://www.ada.gov or call the toll-free ADA Information Line at 1-800-514-0301 or 1-800-514-0383.

The Justice Department today reached a settlement agreement with the City of Philadelphia Police Department to resolve allegations that it violated Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act by denying deaf and hard of hearing individuals full and equal opportunities to participate in and benefit from its programs, services, and activities.

People interested in finding out more about the ADA, or this agreement may call the toll-free ADA Information Line at 1-800-514-0301 or 1-800-514-0383 (TDD), or access the ADA website at https://www.ada.gov.