The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) contends PepsiCo Beverage Sales, LLC violated the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) when it failed to reasonably accommodate a blind employee at its North Carolina call center. The EEOC filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina when it couldn’t reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. Here’s what not to do when it comes to hiring an employee with a disability.
Employer discriminates against new hire
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, PepsiCo hired a new customer care advocate to work at the Winston-Salem call center. This employee notified PepsiCo that he was blind and requested an accommodation for his work. A vocational counselor from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) even offered to provide assistance with purchasing any supportive equipment.
PepsiCo refused help from the NCDHHS. Instead, it placed the employee on unpaid leave while the accommodation request went through channels. PepsiCo then fired the employee. The company did not consider any other accommodations, nor did offer any other accommodations. According to the EEOC, under the ADA, the employer is required to work with the employee to find possible accommodations.
Reasonable accommodations must be offered
While reasonable accommodations are different for every disability and workplace, one thing is standard – that is the requirement that the employer and employee have an interactive process to find the best way to support the employee in the job while maintaining safety and considering the impact on the employer. In this case, the employer could have had assistance in providing accommodations by the NCDHHS but chose to refuse their help.
New hires are very vulnerable to discrimination in employment. The new hire doesn’t have enough information to assess their needs for accommodation. The employer must work with the employee to find solutions. PepsiCo needlessly discriminated against the employee by refusing to go through the interactive process.
Dawn Brotherton is a Sr. Staff Writer at The American Genius with an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Central Oklahoma. She is an experienced business writer with over 10 years of experience in SEO and content creation. Since 2017, she has earned $60K+ in grant writing for a local community center, which assists disadvantaged adults in the area.
