WASHINGTON – Allergic to gluten? What about peanuts? Federal disabilities law may be able to help.
The Justice Department said in a recent settlement with a Massachusetts college that severe food allergies can be considered a disability under the law. That gives those who suffer from such allergies a new avenue in seeking menus that fit their diet. But some say it goes too far.
The decision leaves schools, restaurants and other places that serve food more exposed to legal challenges if they fail to honor requests for accommodations by people with food allergies.
Colleges and universities are especially vulnerable because they know their students and often require them to eat on campus, Eve Hill of the Justice Department’s civil rights division said. But a restaurant also could be liable if it blatantly ignored a customer’s request for certain foods and that person became ill, though that case might be harder to argue if the customer had just walked in and was unknown to the restaurant, Hill said.
The settlement with Lesley University, reached last month but drawing little attention, will require the Cambridge institution to serve gluten-free foods and make other accommodations for students who have celiac disease. At least one student had complained to the federal government after the school would not exempt that student from a meal plan even though the student couldn’t eat the food.
“All colleges should heed this settlement and take steps to make accommodations,” said Alice Bast, president and founder of the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness. “To our community this is definitely a precedent.”
Under the agreement, Lesley University said it will not only provide gluten-free options in its dining hall but also allow students to pre-order, provide a dedicated space for storage and preparation to avoid contamination, train staff about food allergies and pay a $50,000 cash settlement to affected students.
“We are not saying what the general meal plan has to serve or not,” Hill said. “We are saying that when a college has a mandatory meal plan they have to be prepared to make reasonable modifications to that meal plan to accommodate students with disabilities.”
The agreement said that food allergies may constitute a disability under the Americans With Disabilities Act, if they are severe enough. The definition was made possible under 2009 amendments to the disability law that concerned episodic impairments that substantially limit activity.
“By preventing people from eating, they are really preventing them from accessing their educational program,” Hill said of the school and its students.
Not everyone agrees.
Hans von Spakovsky, a fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation who worked in the civil rights division of the Justice Department under President George W. Bush, said the inclusion of food allergies is a major expansion of the disability law.
JOIN THE DISCUSSION | Register here
We welcome comments. Please keep them civil, short and to the point. ALL CAPS, spam, obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. Thanks for taking part — and abiding by these simple rules. A thorough explanation of rules of conduct can be found in our Terms of Service. If you have any questions, including why your comment may not be showing immediately after you submit it, be sure to visit the commenting FAQ.