Feds Settle With Bergen Gym Over Canceled Birthday Party

NORWOOD, NJ –Federal officials say they have reached a settlement with a Norwood gymnastics school accused of cancelling a child’s 7th birthday party after finding out the guests had disabilities.

Paragon School of Artistic Gymnastics violated the Americans with Disabilities Act “by refusing to make reasonable modifications to its program and then excluding children on the basis of disability,”U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said in a statement.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the school required parents of special needs children who wanted to attend the January 2017 party to provide someone who could “shadow” the child throughout the event. Paragon’s requirement applied regardless of child’s specific needs or disability, officials said.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, “places of public accommodation such as Paragon must make reasonable modifications to policies and practices to permit persons with disabilities to participate in its services.”

Those places also cannot “impose additional eligibility criteria or a surcharge on persons with a disability wishing to participate in its goods and services, and cannot deny access to good and services to people associated with someone with a disability,” Carpenito said.

Under the terms of the settlement, Paragon agreed to put in place various policies to make sure children with disabilities are “afforded full and equal opportunities to participate in and benefit from its programs and parties,” officials said.

Paragon must also publish information on its website about its policy on the prohibition of discriminating against those with disabilities and provide ADA training to its staff.

Officials also ordered the gymnastics school to pay $3,000 in damages to the child, $2,000 to the complainant's parents and a $1,000 civil penalty to the U.S. Treasury.

Individuals who believe they may have been victims of discrimination may file a complaint with the U.S Attorney’s Office here.

Additional information about the ADA can be found at ADA.gov, or by calling the Department of Justice’s toll-free information line at (800) 514-0301 and (800) 514-0383 (TDD).