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ADA ALERT - A call to action before the March 15, 2012 ADA deadline
publication date: Feb 27, 2012
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author/source: Jim Butler, author of www.HotelLawBlog.com and Marty Orlick Senior Member, Global Hospitality Group®
ADA ALERT - A call to action before the March 15, 2012 ADA deadlineFor the most recent update on this topic, click here By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group®
5 REASONS YOU SHOULD ACT NOW!
Why act now? It is the law. It is the right thing to do. It is much more cost-effective to prevent lawsuits that to fight them. If you wait and get sued or investigated by the DOJ, in addition to the cost of making the property fully compliant, you may get hit with fines, plaintiff's attorneys' fees and costs. Some states, like California, also can award damages. And the DOJ can fine hotels up to $55,000 for the first ADA offense and $110,000 for each subsequent offense. WHAT ACTION SHOULD YOU TAKE? The new ADA requirements cover 2 broad areas: (1) policies and procedures, and (2) the property itself (along with its related facilities). The action you should take now is prevention, prevention and prevention. That means you should have ADA experts analyze your hotel property and operations to determine deficiencies so you can fix them before there is a problem. The best way to do this is to hire ADA-experienced attorneys who will engage an appropriate accessibility consultant. Use of attorneys generally provides certain legal privileges to maintain confidentiality of the consultant's reports and your communications on strategy and implementation. Experienced ADA compliance attorneys also help make the difficult judgment calls on what the law requires (much of which is subjective, and all of which is constantly evolving). THE END GAME The goal is to ensure your hotel complies with both the original ADA and new rules that go into effect March 15, 2012. You should complete this ADA compliance survey as soon as possible, identify items that need fixing and agree upon an expedited approach to eliminate deficiencies before you have any problems. Jim Butler Marty Orlick This is Jim Butler, author of www.HotelLawBlog.com and hotel lawyer, signing off. |
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