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Minutes of the March 4, 2008 Meeting:
By Linda
Byrne
MEMBERS
IN ATTENDANCE:
Jen
Honig, Co-Chair, Mental Health Legal Advisor’s Committee (MHLAC)
Stan
Eichner, Co-Chair, Disability Law Center (DLC)
James Aprea,
Mass Office on Disability (MOD)
Myra
Berloff, MOD
Bethany
Brown, Attorney General’s Office
Linda
Byrne, DLC
Joseph
Carson, M-Power
Deborah
Filler, Cambridge & Somerville Legal Services
Brian
Flynn, Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS)
Monica
Halas (GBLS)
Sharon
Heim, Esq.
Evelyn
Kaufman, M-Power
Ariel Linet,
MHLAC
Engie Mota,
DLC
Thomas
Murphy, DLC
Alla
Pouzyreva, Job Victories
Barry
Scheur, Scheur & Associates
Introductions, Reports & Announcements:
 Co-Chair, Stan Eichner called the meeting to order at
10:20 am and welcomed all to today’s meeting. Introductions
were made following by these announcements:
Resignation:
Stan
announced that he will be resigning as Executive Director of
the Disability Law Center on March 14, 2008. He will be
joining the Executive Office of Health and Human Services.
As such, Stan will not be participating as CLRD’s Co-Chair
after today’s meeting. Jen Honig thanked Stan for
all of his dedication and participation in CLRD,
congratulated and wished him well in his new position and
presented him with a gift to remember CLRD by. Thank you
Stan, we will miss you.
Helen
Bryant,
DLC’s Managing Attorney, will replace Stan as CLRD’s
Co-Chairperson.
Combining Legislation:
Evelyn
Kaufman
stated that
she has been informed that the pending legislation on the
Five Fundamental Rights and the Fresh Air bills will be a
combined bill. “M-Power would like to see this happen.”
Stan added that bill sponsors believe that combining the
bills may increase the probability of passing this
legislation.
Fundraising Hike:
Joe
Carson
announced
that he will hike the “Finger Lakes Trail” in upstate New
York this May. Joe will hike 60 miles to benefit the
Freedom Center (a recovery and wellness drop-in center
located in Northampton designed to serve individuals with
mental illness). Last year Joe hiked a 90 mile footpath in
the Appalachian Trail. Joe welcomes any tax-deductible
donation you would like to pledge. A separate notice will
be sent to all CLRD members.
SMOC
Assistance:
Deb
Filler
recounted
the details of the SMOC lawsuit for those who were unable to
attend SMOC’s presentation from the January CLRD meeting.
She proposed that CLRD (and other disability
advocates/communities) support SMOC’s litigation effort with
a letter of support addressed to the United States
Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Attorney General’s
Office (AGO). She offered to draft a letter and have CLRD
Co-Chairs edit it as needed. The letter would summarize
previous resolution and mediation efforts offered by SMOC as
well key points in the lawsuit. The letter would request
that the DOJ and the AGO officially investigate the
discriminatory actions brought forth from Town of Framingham
officials.
Evelyn
named other agencies that may be able to offer similar
assistance to SMOC.
Jen
moved that Deb be allowed to draft the above-noted letter.
Evelyn seconded the motion. Members unanimously
voted in favor of Deb’s participation in the drafting of
this letter. A separate notice to all CLRD members with the
contents of this letter will be forwarded.
CLRD’S Presentation: Division of Unemployment Assistance
and Changes to the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act:
Brian Flynn
and Monica Halas of GBLS and Tom Murphy of DLC
joined today’s meeting to discuss two topics:
Unemployment Insurance Assistance and the Family and
Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
Unemployment Benefits:
Brian
gave a brief overview of the unemployment insurance
eligibility guidelines a person must have in order to
qualify for unemployment benefits (person must be totally or
partially unemployed through no fault of their own [or for
good cause], have worked a minimum of 1,250 hours within the
last year [13 weeks of full time employment], earned at
least $3,000, and is capable of, available for, and actively
seeking employment). In the past, an unemployed individual
(“claimant”) requesting unemployment insurance is expected
to be available for and must be able to work full time.
Brian and Tom’s advocacy caused DUE to change their
regulations so that a claimant with a disability who is only
available to work part time because of their disability
would be eligible.
Brian
and Tom worked on making significant language changes
to the “Physician’s Statement of Capability” form, and the
DUA accepted the changes. Basically, the old form asked if
the claimant could work full time. If the response to that
question was “no”, then the claimant was denied unemployment
benefits. The new form (now known as the “Health Care
Provider’s Statement of Capability”) now asks: “If the
claimant is not able to perform some type of full-time work,
is the claimant capable of performing part-time work?” It
also asks: “What the expected duration is for the claimant’s
limitation to part-time work?” By adding these questions,
it does not disqualify the claimant who possibly could work
part time, but not work full time because of their
disability even if they have a history of full-time work.
Tom
stated that individuals with disabilities are often
discriminated against and laid off before other employees
mainly because they are disabled. If this is the case, both
the Disability Law Center and Greater Boston Legal Services
are interested in learning about these cases. The DUA is
also interested in why a person no longer is working. But
DUA’s interest is to determine eligibility for unemployment
insurance, not discrimination. Issues involving alleged
discrimination are handled by the Massachusetts Commission
Against Discrimination and the EEOC.
Monica
added that “what we are trying to get DUA to do is accept
the notion that a person is still able and available in
terms of unemployment law even if they have a condition that
allows them to only work part-time.” This issue only arises
where a person is moving from full-time work to part-time
work.
Brian
also added that DUA has a great plan which supports
vocational or technical training programs for claimants who
need new skills to get a suitable job and become
re-employed. This allows a claimant to engage in
educational training while they are collecting benefits. If
a claimant is approved for training, they will receive up to
an additional 18 weeks of extended unemployment benefits. A
claimant must apply for training program within the first 15
weeks of their claim. Also, the claimant is allowed to
participate in the training program full time even if they
can only work part-time.
Tom
also cleared up the notion about whether a person who is
eligible for unemployment benefits may or may not receive
Social Security benefits. There are different standards in
qualifying for both of these programs. Generally speaking,
a person who applies for unemployment benefits must show
that they can work. And those who apply for Social Security
benefits (SSI or SSDI) state that they cannot work because
they are disabled. However, a person on Social Security
benefits is allowed to work as long as they do not exceed
the earned dollar amount in “Substantial Gainful Activity” (SGA).
SGA is a certain level of earnings. The key is that when a
claimant is applying for either Social Security or
Department of Unemployment Assistance benefits or both, it
is important to inform them of all information so that the
claimant can qualify for the benefits they are entitled to.
It’s better to be up front about this information. In fact,
Social Security has several programs to help recipients
work. They are: the “Ticket to Work Program” and the
“Trial Work Period”. The Social Security Administration
encourages people to look for work while receiving their
benefits.
Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA):
Monica
gave a brief history of this Act and stated that it provides
a total of 12 weeks of unpaid leave for an individual who
needs to leave work to care for a seriously ill child,
parent, or spouse or for the birth or adoption of a child.
She stated that recently the Bush Administration has
proposed adjustments to the FMLA which may affect a person’s
eligibility. The proposed regulations may make it more
burdensome for an employee to be eligible for FMLA.
Employees looking to be granted a leave may be forced to
provide more medical documentation with less time to obtain
it. In addition, there is a change in the HIPPA language
which may provide employers with more confidential
information on their employee than needed, thereby
interfering with privacy rights and expanding an employer’s
authority. Also, the way the regulations have been drafted,
it may allow the employer to make a FMLA determination based
on what the medical information indicates.
Monica
sought that CLRD be its client for the purpose of submitting
comments of concern about the proposed FMLA regulations and
it was approved. She asked that feedback from CLRD be
provided prior to April 11th when comments are
due back to the Department of Labor. The existing
retainer can be amended to include this issue. Jen
agreed to have comments back to Monica by early April.
Stan
thanked all for participating in today’s CLRD meeting and
thanked all for allowing him to be CLRD’s Co-Chairperson.
The
meeting ended at noon.
CLRD’s next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, April 29, 2008
at Skadden, Arps at One Beacon Street, in Boston. |