Dive Brief:
- A claim alleging the U.S. Air Force denied disability accommodations for civilian employees and applicants who are deaf will move forward as a class-action case, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Office of Federal Operations ruled April 5. The office hears federal-sector appeals.
- The complaint alleges the Air Force didn’t provide employees with American Sign Language interpreters, videophones and other translation services and accommodations. The class is made up of more than 700 civilian employees and applicants who are deaf at Air Force bases throughout the country.
- “Employers with far fewer resources than the Air Force regularly provide such accommodations, but the Air Force’s process for accommodating Deaf applicants and employees is profoundly broken,” Sean Betouliere of Disability Rights Advocates, a not-for-profit disability rights legal center, and Wendy Musell of the Law Offices of Wendy Musell, counsel for the class, said in a joint statement.
Dive Insight:
EEOC regularly challenges private-sector companies that don’t provide reasonable accommodations for those who are deaf or hearing impaired in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. And in March, EEOC updated its ADA guidance on how the law applies to applicants and employees who are deaf or hard of hearing, notably as they navigate pre- and post-job offers and new technologies like videoconferencing.
“Individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have other hearing conditions can perform successfully on the job and, under the ADA, should not be denied opportunities because of stereotypical assumptions about those conditions,” EEOC said in its guidance. “Some employers assume incorrectly that workers with hearing conditions will cause safety hazards, increase employment costs or have difficulty communicating in fast-paced environments. In reality, with or without reasonable accommodation, individuals with hearing conditions can be effective and safe workers.”
The agency has enforced its position several times in recent years. A grocer, for example, agreed to pay $28,000 in October 2021 to settle charges that it failed to bring in American Sign Language interpreters during the hiring process for applicants who were deaf and requested such accommodations.
Similarly, in June 2021, EEOC filed a lawsuit against a staffing agency that allegedly “routinely refused” to provide sign language interpreters to employees who were deaf. That litigation is ongoing.
