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EEOC Takes Aim at Disability Discrimination

On Behalf of | Apr 11, 2016 | Discrimination, Employment Law |

With two settlements and a new lawsuit, the EEOC reminds employers that disability discrimination will not be tolerated. On March 31, 2016, the EEOC filed suit against C&A Tool Engineering, Inc., alleging that it withdrew a job offer because the applicant’s physical exam showed a vision impairment. In filing suit, Kenneth Bird, the EEOC’s Indianapolis District Office’s acting regional attorney, commented, “Employers cannot and should not consider impairments that do not affect job performance in their hiring decisions.” Shortly thereafter, on April 6 and April 7, 2016, the EEOC announced the settlement of two other disability discrimination lawsuits, one for an employer’s alleged failure to accommodate a deaf employee and the second for an employer’s alleged failure to allow an employee to return to work unless he agreed to take his medication at work and under the employer’s observation. In settling the second case, EEOC senior trial attorney Omar Weaver remarked, “An employer cannot single out an employee who has a disability and impose a unique and over-protective rule on that person as a condition of employment.”

Find out more about these cases at:

https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/4-7-16.cfm

https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/4-6-16.cfm

https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/4-1-16.cfm