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September 23, 2024
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently reported that it settled a disability discrimination lawsuit against National Telecommuting Institute (NTI), a staffing and job placement agency based in Westwood, Massachusetts that assists individuals with disabilities to find work-from-home jobs. NTI will pay $1.25 million to resolve the lawsuit that alleges that it failed to accommodate and hire blind and low-vision applicants.
The EEOC alleged that, since 2017, NTI violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) when it did not pursue placement or referral of blind and low-vision applicants in telephone-based customer service roles once NTI became aware that the applicants used technologies like (1) screen readers to convert computer text to speech or (2) screen enlargers, if those enlargers required more than two times magnification. Rather than pursue placement or referral of such candidates, NTI classified them for “Future Consideration,” but then failed to consider them in the future, according to the EEOC’s lawsuit. NTI based their conduct on the presumption – which often was wrong – that its business clients were not able to support the assistive technologies.
The EEOC further alleged that, also since 2017, NTI denied disability-related accommodations during their pre-employment application process.
Specifically, NTI did not permit one applicant, who is blind and uses Job Access with Speech (JAWS) to convert text to synthetic speech, to complete the onboarding process. As to another applicant, who also is blind and uses JAWS, NTI told him that no positions were available because no software that is required in any available position is compatible with JAWS. NTI further failed to allow this applicant to complete a mandatory typing test and skills assessment.
This alleged conduct, if proven, violates the ADA, which prohibits employers from making employment decisions based on individuals’ disability(ies) or their need for reasonable accommodations and which requires them to make accommodations absent an undue hardship.
A three-year consent decree resolved the lawsuit. The decree requires NTI to provide internal training about rights and responsibilities under the ADA. NTI also will revise its policies and practices concerning the provision of reasonable accommodations to persons with disabilities and will use an internal ADA coordinator and external monitor to ensure compliance with the measures to prevent future limitations on persons requiring accommodations.
The case is EEOC v. National Telecommuting Institute, Civil Action No. 5:23-cv-01210-XR (W.D. Tex.).
Employers: Screen-reading software and other assistive technologies already are proven to be effective accommodations for individuals who are blind or have low vision. Failing to explore such accommodations and implement them absent an undue hardship violates the ADA.
*Special thanks to Nella Venella, our paralegal, for her contributions to this article.
The author of this article, Patricia Tsipras, is a member of the Bar of Pennsylvania. This article is designed to provide one perspective regarding recent legal developments, and is not intended to serve as legal advice in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, or any other jurisdiction, nor does it establish an attorney-client relationship with any reader of the article where one does not exist. Always consult an attorney with specific legal issues.
