Friday, March 13, 2009

Handicap Hero or Business Burden

So who wants to not work and make hundreds of thousands of dollars? What a rhetorical question, huh? So now that everyone said “I do!”, let’s face it, not many people can unless you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth. Well one guy has found a way to do just that. Tom Mundy from California is wheel-chair bound and has nothing better to do with his life than to go to local businesses and look for infractions in the Americans with Disabilities Act. Once an infraction is found, he then sues the company for thousands of dollars instead of giving the company time to fix the situation. Most companies don’t want to bother with trials so they settle out of court for a few thousand dollars.
Most people would say it is highway robbery at its finest, while some people would call him a hero. Do you think it is right to do what he is doing? I personally don’t think it is a very fair way to make money. I know that people using wheelchairs do have a challenge moving in everyday life, but this is taking it to an extreme.
How many of you think the company should have time to fix the situation before being sued? I personally think that the company should at least have a few weeks to fix the problem before being sued. Most of these infractions are so simple, that they could be fixed in a day. These infractions include things such as the tables not being fit for handicap people or bathrooms that are not handicap accessible.
A person wouldn’t even have to be in a wheelchair to be able to do this and make money off of it. Anyone could read up on the Americans with Disabilities Act and go out and find some of these infractions. At a time of economic downfall, I don’t think this is very loyal. I think it is more like parasitic, feeding off of businesses hit hard by the falling economy. This is the kind of news that needs to be put in feature stories and video news releases to get it out to the public so it can be supported or stopped. I believe news like this could even make it so bills are passed to protect businesses from parasites like Tom Mundy.