Legal Rights of Children with Epilepsy in School & Child Care

Dispute Resolution and Legal Remedies
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filing a complaint, the parent may wish to contact the Section 504 coordinator
for the district in an effort to try to resolve the matter informally.
8.23Q: What information should be included in a Section 504 complaint to OCR?
A: An OCR complaint should include the name and contact information for the
person filing the complaint, the name and contact information for the lawyer or
advocate for the person filing the complaint, the name of the person and
organization who engaged in the discrimination, a description of the
discrimination with supporting facts, copies of any information or documents
that support the claim, and the date(s) the discrimination took place. The
complaint should also include a description of the remedy being requested.
8.24Q: What does OCR do after a complaint is filed?
A: OCR will investigate the complaint by getting additional information from both
parties. If it appears that the school district may have violated Section 504, OCR
will try to work with the school district to get the district to resolve the
complaint voluntarily with a resolution agreement. Many times, OCR issues a
decision finding that discrimination has or has not occurred. On rare occasions,
OCR may initiate proceedings to cut off federal funding. Sometimes, OCR does
not pursue a complaint because the person who filed the complaint does not
cooperate in the investigation or because the complaint is more appropriately
filed with another agency, such as the Office for Special Education Programs,
since it concerns the IDEA, for instance, rather than Section 504.
8.25Q: Can a parent ask for a hearing under Section 504 instead of filing a
complaint with OCR, and is a hearing under Section 504 similar to a due
process hearing under the IDEA?
A: Yes. Because OCR has no timelines for its complaint investigation, some
parents might wish to resolve their dispute by proceeding to a hearing. Some
states have the same hearing system with the same hearing officers; others do
not. The hearing itself is substantively similar; however, it is important to note
that Section 504 does not have the same exhaustion requirement that the IDEA
does; it is not necessary to go through an administrative hearing under Section
504 before going to court. If, however, the issue under Section 504 is one that
could be addressed under the IDEA, the administrative process must be
exhausted. For example, if a student with a seizure disorder receives services
under the IDEA, his or her parents may not go to court under Section 504 to
challenge the school district’s failure to provide medication and other services.
To do so would be viewed as an effort to avoid the administrative process.
Rather, they would have to go through an administrative hearing, then proceed
to court if necessary. On the other hand, if a student with a seizure disorder does
not receive any special education, parents should be able to proceed directly to
court under Section 504 if they wish to bypass the administrative hearing