Below is an official statement from the US Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.
Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announces that the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida has reached an agreement with Autumn Leaf Academy, Inc., a day care center in Plant City, Florida that provides child care services for children ages 12 months to 12 years old, to settle allegations that it violated Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The United States Attorney’s Office opened an investigation into Autumn Leaf Academy after receiving a complaint from the parents of a child with Down syndrome, alleging that, in November 2022, Autumn Leaf Academy refused to enroll their daughter because she uses a gastronomy tube (i.e., “G-tube”) to eat. As a result of the investigation, the United States determined that Autumn Leaf Academy violated Title III of the ADA when it discriminated against the child and her parents, because of the child’s disability, by denying them the opportunity to participate in and benefit from its day care services. Specifically, Autumn Leaf Academy applied eligibility criteria that screened out the child and failed and refused to make the reasonable modifications to its policies, practices, or procedures that were necessary to afford her its services…