CHICAGO – Des Plaines, Ill.- based M&M Limousine Service violated federal law when it refused to hire or consider potential accommodations for a qualified deaf job applicant, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, the applicant applied for the position of limousine driver, but M&M refused to hire him and failed to consider whether he could do the job, with or without reasonable accommodations. The EEOC said that M&M told the applicant that it could not hire him because he is deaf, despite the fact that he met the qualifications for the position.
Such alleged conduct violates violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits discrimination based on disability and requires an individualized assessment of whether an applicant with a disability can perform the job, with or without reasonable accommodation.
“It is regrettable the M&M refused to hire the applicant based on unfounded assumptions that a deaf person cannot do the job rather than engaging in an individualized assessment of whether he could do the job with or without a reasonable accommodation, as required by the ADA,” said Greg Gochanour, the regional attorney for the EEOC’s Chicago District Office.
