Colorado Politics

2 federal lawsuits filed in US District court for Colorado alleging ADA violations

On Thursday, two lawsuits were filed in the U.S. District Court for Colorado alleging discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act, one coming from an employee and the other from a prospective customer.

In the first instance, Roger King, an employee of iHeartMedia, alleged that his employer denied him time off to take care of his ailing wife, and subsequently fired him after he revealed that he may have prostate cancer.

King claims that under the ADA, he should have been given reasonable accommodation in both circumstances.

“The defendant’s refusals to engage in the interactive process, not allowing him the time off of which he had, and termination of his employment are all adverse actions,” King wrote in his filing.

IHeartMedia, according to the lawsuit, said that they fired King because he provided voice-over segments to competitor radio stations, that he loaded the wrong key words in for a national contest, and a third reason his supervisor would not mention.

King, who is also alleging a violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, is asking for back-wages and “future economic losses.”

The second complaint is a class action suit from David Katt against Native Roots IPCO, a cannabis company. Katt, who is blind, alleges that Native Roots’ website is discriminatory because it is incompatible with screen reader programs that visually impaired people rely upon.

The company “deprives blind and visually impaired individuals the benefits of its online goods, content and services — all benefits it affords non-disabled individuals — thereby increasing the sense of isolation and stigma among these Americans,” Katt wrote in his complaint.

Katt said that he cannot come into the store because he is unable to read the hours on the website and cannot make online purchases. He alleges that Native Roots is denying service to an entire class of people covered under the ADA.

He wrote that the law requires the company to reasonably accommodate his disability by “removing these existing access barriers” and is asking the court to order Native Roots to make its website compliant.

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