Hertz being sued for allegedly discriminating against drivers with disabilities

Hertz is being sued by a nonprofit law firm alleging that the rental car company violated the civil rights of people with disabilities who need hand controls to operate a vehicle.

Hand controls, according to Disability Rights Advocates, generally consist of a mechanism that allows drivers to accelerate and brake using one hand, and a “spinner knob” that allows for steering with the other hand.

“For many years, Hertz had a policy of providing hand controls for people with disabilities in a wide variety of its rental cars,” Disability Rights Advocates said in a press release. “Unfortunately, in recent years, Hertz has made its services less accessible to people with disabilities by drastically reducing the models and types of vehicles that may be reserved with hand controls.”

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DRA is filing the class action suit in the Northern District of California and is representing two individuals who use wheelchairs and require hand controls to operate a vehicle.

The two people – identified in the complaint as Christina Mills and Carina Ho – reportedly sought to rent a vehicle from Hertz “on multiple occasions” but found that their options for hand controls were only available on an “extremely limited and often more expensive” set of Hertz vehicles, the DRA press release said.

“In a world full of choices for the nondisabled, I often am forced to take what’s available to me simply because I am a wheelchair user,” plaintiff Christina Mills said. “If I’m spending my money, I want to rent the car I want and the one that works for me.”

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According to Disability Rights Advocates Senior Staff Attorney Sean Betouliere, individuals with disabilities have been asking Hertz to revise its “discriminatory hand control policies” since 2016.

Plaintiffs sent the company a final letter asking that they voluntarily change its policies in January.

“Unfortunately, Hertz once again refused to make any changes, leaving us no choice but to file suit,” Betouliere said in the DRA release.

In a statement, a Hertz spokesperson told KTLA that they are committed to “accommodating the needs of all customers and making the rental experience as convenient as possible.”

“[Hertz offers] a fleet of specially equipped vehicles and services for people with disabilities,” the spokesperson said. “Due to the ongoing nature of this litigation, we cannot comment further at this time.”

The full complaint can be read here.

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