If a job applicant showed up to an interview with an interpreter, what would your hiring manager do?
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), employers are required to reasonably accommodate an applicant’s qualifying disability. Don’t be like this New York-based tech company that turned away an applicant when he did just that. After the EEOC got involved, it cost the company over $250,000.
Job applicant turned away in an interview
Tech Mahindra, the company in question, has a global presence, but this occurred at their Rochester, NY location. The job applicant had an interview for an automation engineer position. When he came to the interview, he brought a sign language interpreter. The company ended the interview upon learning that the applicant was deaf. The applicant got an email that said, “…it is unfortunate that we can’t proceed with your profile. While you have the perfect skill set for this role it would be a challenge having an interpreter [sic] on-site.” The EEOC contends that this conduct violated the ADA.
EEOC files lawsuit
The EEOC brought a lawsuit against Tech Mahindra for failing to reasonably accommodate an applicant during the hiring process. The EEOC did attempt to reach a pre-litigation settlement with Tech Mahindra. Incidentally, Tech Mahindra reports that it received an award in the UK as a “Disability Confident Leader” for creating a workplace in which unique abilities are “celebrated.” After the lawsuit was filed, the EEOC continued working with the company to find a resolution outside of court.
Lawsuit settled for a price
Tech Mahindra settled the lawsuit, agreeing to pay the applicant $255,000 in monetary relief. In addition, the company is under a consent decree that prohibits discrimination against deafness in all areas of employment. The consent decree also requires the company to train its employees about the ADA, and it will be required to hire an ADA coordinator that will review accommodation requests. It was an expensive lesson that should serve as a reminder to all employers to ensure compliance with the ADA.
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.
