NOV 24 1992

Jeffrey H. Flora, CAE

Managing Director
The Electric Association of
Missouri & Kansas
638 W. 39th
Kansas City, Missouri 64141-4168

Dear Mr. Flora:

This letter is in response to your request for a statement

of our policy for enforcing the Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA).
As with other Federal civil rights statutes protecting
Americans against employment discrimination, the ADA will be
enforced with reason and fairness. I am confident that our
enforcement policy will not contribute to the litigation crisis,
but rather will provide expanded opportunities for businesses, as
well as potential employees and consumers.

Our general enforcement strategy is a simple one and can be

summarized in a phrase: educate, negotiate and litigate only
when those efforts fail. Our goal is voluntary compliance with
the ADA through an active outreach and public education effort.
We will attempt first to resolve complaints through a process of
technical assistance and negotiation, and resort to litigation
only when necessary to achieve compliance after those efforts.

To date, this policy has been very successful. Daily, we

advise owners and managers of businesses on ways to comply with
the ADA, and they express a great interest in doing so
voluntarily - not to avoid litigation, but because it is the
right thing to do. In the long run, compliance will also make
them more competitive in the marketplace.

cc: Records; Chrono; Wodatch; Breen.

:udd:jonessandra:disabling.america

01-01745
 -2-
It is true that litigation will be unavoidable in some
circumstances. The ADA and the Federal regulations, however,
strike a careful balance between the rights of individuals with
disabilities to equal access to the mainstream of American life
and the legitimate needs of business for efficiency and
profitability. The ADA's incorporation of such limiting concepts
as "readily achievable," "undue burden" and "undue hardship"
takes into consideration the economic health of individual
businesses and simultaneously protects essential rights and
promotes economic growth.

The day has long passed when individuals with disabilities

can be shunted away in segregated programs or denied employment.
Now is the time for all American institutions to reassess their
policies and practices to ensure that all individuals are
included in their activities, services, and employment
opportunities. It's good business, it makes sense, and it's
fair.

Sincerely,

John R. Dunne
Assistant Attorney General
Civil Rights Division

01-01746
 The Electric Association OF MISSOURI & KANSAS
638 W. 39TH * P.O. BOX 414168 * KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI 64141-4168 *
816-561-5323
FAX
#816-561-1249

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
President
GARY HICKOX
MID-WEST CHANDELIER CO.
*
President- Elect
RON LOMAX
SQUARE D CO.
August 31, 1992
Secretary-Treasurer
RICH SGARLAT
SIEMENS ENERGY & AUTOMATION, INC.
*
Immediate Past President
DON ANDERSON
SCHOOLER & ASSOCIATES, INC. Mr. John R. Dunne
****** Assistant Attorney General
Vice Presidents Civil Rights Division
UTILITIES U.S. Justice Department
 SYLVERSTER BYRD
BOARD OF PUBLIC UTILITIES Washington, D.C. 20515
MANUFACTURERS
PAUL BODDE
THE WIREMOLD CO. Dear Mr. Dunne:
CONTRACTORS
DICK YATES
YATES ELECTRIC CO. I read with much interest your letter to the editor
SUPPLY WHOLESALERS
TERRY MASTERS in the August 20th issue of the Wall Street Journal.
BERNIE ELECTRIC
AGENTS
GARY SNEATHEN Our Association represents approximately 600 members
MOKAN ELECTRICAL SALES who are individual businesses and business
owners
AT LARGE
ART MALLE and who are also very concerned about the impact of
KANSAS POWER & LIGHT
MAINT-REPAIR-SERVICE the employment provisions of Title I of the Ameri-
LARRY HURST cans With Disabilities Act which went into effect in
HUNT MIDWEST July, 1992.
******
Board of Directors
DIANE BECHMANN We would appreciate very much for you to write the
KANSAS CITY POWER & LIGHT
LARRY LaBOUNTY Electric Association of Missouri & Kansas a memo on
T&B MFG. Justice Department stationery outlining the policies
GRANT HILBURN that you stated in your letter to the Wall Street
BOESE-HILBURN ELECTRIC
RAY HAWKINS Journal.
MISSOURI VALLEY ELECTRIC
JOHN MARIETTI
CBM INC. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
CHRIS HEDGES
CHRISTOPHER HEDGES CO.
BOB VAN LANDINGHAM Sincerely,
LOGIC CONTROL SALES
DON ALBER
WALKER LOUDERMILK CO.
WALT WESTMORELAND
MISSOURI VALLEY ELECTRIC
TOM ISENBERG Jeffrey H. Flora, CAE
WESTERN EXTRALITE
IDA MAY EDMISTEN Managing Director
MISSOURI VALLEY ELECTRIC
 JHF/dh
cc: Ernest Isenberg
Legislative Committee Chairman
cc: John Wodatch

01-01747​
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
DATE:
8-20-92
PAGE: A xx
Letters to the Editor
Unsupported Fears About the ADA
Your July 24 editorial "Disabling
America" is misleading and fosters unsup-
ported fears about the consequences of the
employment provisions of Title I of the
Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA),
which went into effect last month. As with
other federal civil rights statutes protect-
ing Americans against employment dis-
crimination, Title I will be enforced with
reason and fairness. I am confident that
our enforcement policy will not contribute
to the litigation crisis, but rather will
provide expanded opportunities for em-
ployers, as well as potential employees.
Our compliance strategy is a simple one
and can be summarized in a phrase:
educate, negotiate and litigate only when
those efforts fail. Our goal is voluntary
compliance with the ADA through an ac-
tive outreach and public education effort.
We will attempt first to resolve complaints
through a process of technical assistance
and negotiation, and resort to litigation
only when compliance is required.
You confuse the administrative en-
forcement procedures for the ADA's vari-
ous provisions and actual court litigation.
Your reference to 320 cases filed with our
department and the "20% jump in discrimi-
nation lawsuits, or 15,000 new cases a
year," is a reflection of this confusion.
These statistics refer to the number of
administrative complaints filed with our
department and those that may be lodged
with the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC) during the coming
year. Some of the department's cases go to
litigation, but the vast majority will be
settled voluntarily. Similarly, a very small
percentage of EEOC's cases will result in
litigation.
To date, our experience has been very
different from the bleak view you present.
Daily we advise the owners and managers
of businesses on ways to comply with the
ADA and they express a great interest in
doing so voluntarily -- not to avoid litiga-
tion, but because it is the right thing to do.
Moreover, in the long run, compliance will
make them more competitive in the mar-
ketplace.
It is true that litigation will be unavoid-
able in some circumstances. The ADA and
the federal government's regulations,
however, strike a careful balance between
the rights of individuals with disabilities to
equal access to the mainstream of Ameri-
can life and the legitimate needs of govern-
ment and business for efficiency and prof-
itability. The ADA's incorporation of such
limiting concepts as "readily achievable,"
"undue burden" and "undue hardship"
takes into consideration the economic
health of individual businesses and state
and local governments, and simulta-
neously protects essential rights and pro-
motes economic growth.
The day has long passed when individ-
uals with disabilities can be shunted away
in segregated programs or denied employ-
ment. Now is the time for all American
institutions to reassess their policies and
practices to ensure that all individuals are
included in their activities, services and
employment opportunities. It's good busi-
ness; it makes sense, and it's fair.
JOHN R. DUNNE
 Assistant Attorney General
Civil Rights Division
U.S. Justice Department
Washington
***
You accurately describe fears many
people have about the ADA. You point out
that there is a fear that there will be many
costly lawsuits and that ultimately we may
find costs of "reasonable accommodation"
to be excessive.
One of the uncertainties that breeds
fear is that there is no consensus on the
definition of disability. Who counts under
the ADA as having a disability is simply
not known. Also, the face of disability is
changing quickly due to the rise of AIDS,
the recurrence of tuberculosis in our cities
and the overall aging of the population
(thus increasing the prevalence of disabil-
ity).
JOHN B. WINGATE
Executive Director
International Center for the Disabled
New York
***
Your editorial is unfortunately a reflec-
tion of the fear, ignorance and patronizing
attitudes that made the ADA necessary in
the first place. It's not only remarkable for
its misstatement of fact, but for its com-
plete misunderstanding of the spirit and
history underlying the ADA, of which I was
the primary sponsor in the Senate.
Let's remember for a moment why the
ADA enjoyed such sweeping bipartisan
support when it was passed: because Con-
gress and the White House recognized that
"compassion for the accidents of birth or
circumstance that limit some people"
(your phrase) has been insufficient to
guarantee to individuals with disabilities
the rights that are taken for granted by
others in our society. With the ADA, for the
first time, people with disabilities have
those same rights.
While you see the ADA as a potential
"Lawyer's Annuity Act," people with disa-
bilities see it as the one law that will help
them achieve inclusion and independence
in the mainstream of society. For the same
reason that soldiers hate war most because
they have the most to lose, people with
disabilities have the greatest interest in
seeing the effective and non-adversarial
implementation of the law -- because they
have the most to lose if the ADA fails.
However, your editorial suggests that
fear of legal liability under the ADA will
result in increased employment discrimi-
nation against people with disabilities. But
your conclusions are contradicted by your
own reporters. The Journal has previously
documented not only the existence of ram-
pant job discrimination in the absence of
legal protection, but also the benefits to the
work force as a whole when protections are
in place.
As early as January 1976, in reporting
on the change in employment practices
resulting from the Rehabilitation Act of
1973, a Journal article highlighted the
limitations that had been placed on Ameri-
can businesses, not by civil rights laws, but
by erroneous perceptions of the value of
disabled Americans in the workplace.
Regarding the efforts by the Disability
Rights Education and Defense Fund
(DREDF): Far from the lawsuit-happy
"Barrier Busters" you portrayed, DREDF
has worked from the beginning of the ADA
to bring the business and disability com-
munities together, to educate and clarify
misperceptions.
Finally, your editorial quotes econo-
mist Walter Ol as saying the ADA will
"make the disabled more dependent on the
government." A Harris Poll recently found
that two-thirds of all working-aged people
with disabilities are on the public dole.
Case after case has found that when given
a chance, people with disabilities perform
as well as the non-disabled. Little wonder
the EEOC projects not only productivity
gains of $164 million under the ADA, but a
$222 million net benefit from decreased
support payments coupled with increased
revenue. Far from making people with
disabilities more dependent on govern-
ment, this law is truly a mandate for
transforming tax-users into taxpayers.
TOM HARKIN (D., Iowa)
U.S. Senate
Washington
***
22 Cont
01-01748