Section 504 Enforcement Options
Filing a charge of discrimination with the Civil Rights Division of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office
This is the third post in our six-part series on Section 504 enforcement options. Today, we will be discussing the option to file a charge of discrimination with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office Civil Rights Division (ACRD).
Arizona has its own disability rights law, the Arizonans with Disabilities Act (AzDA). AzDA is enforced by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. Unlike Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which apply broadly to public schools, AzDA’s application to public schools is currently limited to issues related to physical accessibility, service animals, or mobility aids. If you are experiencing an issue with your school in one of these areas, you can consider filing a charge of discrimination with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office Civil Rights Division (ACRD).1
Some examples of complaints that ACRD could investigate:
- Your child’s school refuses to install a ramp so she can access the stage to perform in the school play.
- Your child’s school bans children from using motorized wheelchairs and wants him to use an aide to push a manual wheelchair.
- Your child’s school refuses to allow service animals at the school.
It is free to file a complaint with ACRD, but you must do so within 180 days of the discriminatory practice. Both parties can agree to participate in free mediation facilitated by ACRD. If either party does not agree to mediation or if the parties are unable to reach a resolution at mediation, ACRD will investigate and either dismiss the case or issue a Reasonable Cause Determination. Generally, you can expect the investigation to take at least one year from when the charge was filed. If your case is dismissed, you have 20 days to request reconsideration. If a Reasonable Cause Determination is issued, you will have another opportunity to resolve the dispute in “post-finding conciliation.” If you are still unable to reach a resolution during conciliation, ACRD may choose to file a lawsuit. This means that ACRD is suing the school to force it to comply with the law, such as by installing a ramp, creating a policy permitting motorized wheelchairs, or getting an order allowing service animals in the school. ACRD will consult with parents, but ACRD is not the child’s or parent’s lawyer. When ACRD files suit, you can ask the court to let you “intervene” into the lawsuit so that you are a party to the lawsuit and can seek additional or different remedies from what ACRD is seeking. Whether or not ACRD files a lawsuit, you may still be able to file a private lawsuit.
To initiate a charge with ACRD, complete and submit the following questionnaire here. After you complete the questionnaire, ACRD will contact you to schedule an intake interview. Your charge is not filed until you sign and notarize the charge prepared by ACRD staff. If you deliver your charge to the ACRD Tucson or Phoenix office and sign before a ACRD staff member, your signature does not need to be notarized. Read the charge form to make sure everything in the charge is correct and accurate before you sign it.
Our next post will consider the right to file a private lawsuit.
- For specific information about the types of discrimination within ACRD’s jurisdiction, we recommend that you look at Ariz. Admin. Code § R10-3-403, and follow the hyperlinks to 28 C.F.R. 35.130(b)(4), 35.133, 35.135, 35.136, 25.137, 35.150, and 35.163 (2011).
↩
