AT&T Services Inc. (AT&T), a major telephone company, will pay a former employee $60,000 to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
The EEOC’s lawsuit, Civil Action No. A09CA700SS, in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in Austin, charged AT&T violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by failing to hire an applicant as a cable splicer technician in Austin only because of his “insulin use” for type 2 diabetes. The applicant indisputably had the necessary experience and expertise to perform the job, the EEOC said, and had previously safely performed a similar job for AT&T for many years after he was diagnosed with diabetes. (WCxKit)
Refusing to hire a qualified individual because of his or her disability, record of disability, or because the employer perceives a person as being disabled, violates the ADA. The EEOC filed suit after the EEOC’s San Antonio Field Office determined that AT&T had violated the ADA and after it tried to reach a pre-litigation settlement through the Commission’s conciliation process.
As part of the agreed consent decree resolving the suit, AT&T will pay $60,000 to its former employee. AT&T also agreed to comply with the provisions of the ADA and to provide training regarding the ADA to all staffing managers at AT&T’s non-management staffing office located in San Antonio. AT&T further agreed to have these staffing managers review AT&T’s equal employment opportunity policies prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability and to acknowledge, in writing, that insulin treatment for diabetes, in and of itself, does not automatically disqualify an individual from employment. (WCxKit)
“Employers who respond to disabled individuals with knee-jerk exclusions based on myths, fears and stereotypes, rather than considering individual abilities, put themselves at risk,” said Senior Trial Attorney Eduardo Juarez of the EEOC’s San Antonio Field Office. “The ADA protects workers with disabilities from discriminatory treatment including hiring and firing.”
Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risks Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers’ Compensation costs, including airlines, healthcare, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. Contact: Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com or 860-553-6604.
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