Company refused to hire woman because she’s deaf, feds say. She’s awarded $1.6 million
A company called a job applicant after her resume caught the employer’s attention. Then the company refused to interview and hire her after learning she was deaf — even though she was qualified for the job, according to a federal lawsuit filed in New York.
Now, a seven-person jury has awarded the woman $1.675 million in back pay and damages after the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued McLane Northeast, a distribution company with a facility in Baldwinsville, the agency said in a Feb. 8 news release.
After two hours of deliberation, the jury decided the Texas-based company violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to the EEOC. The agency had argued the company discriminated against the woman when it wouldn’t interview her and rejected her because of her hearing impairment.
She applied to work for two entry-level warehouse jobs involving filling customers’ orders by placing products in a tote or box, the lawsuit said.
The jury has awarded the woman $25,000 in back pay, $150,000 in damages for emotional distress and $1.5 million in punitive damages, according to the EEOC.
“I’m heartened that the jury sent a loud and clear message with this verdict that discriminating against Deaf job applicants is a violation of the ADA, and that employers who know they may be violating the law but discriminate anyway will be punished harshly,” Karla Gilbride, the EEOC’s general counsel, said in a statement.
Meanwhile, McLane Northeast is “disappointed with the verdict,” Bart McKay, the company’s senior vice president and general counsel, told McClatchy News on Feb. 12.
“We stand behind our commitment to inclusive employment and we have a long history of hiring and accommodating teammates with disabilities,” McKay said. “At this time, we are evaluating all available options, including the potential for appeal.”
McLane could seek a reduction in the amount the jury awarded to the woman, EEOC New York Regional Attorney Jeffrey Burstein told McClatchy News on Feb. 12.
Although the woman was awarded $1.65 million in damages, the amount she can actually recover is much less, according to the EEOC.
In employment discrimination cases, there are limits on the amount of damages a person can receive. These limits depend on how many employees a company has.
The woman who McLane Northeast didn’t hire will only be able to claim $300,000, Burstein said.
If a person is awarded damages in a case against an employer that has 15 to 100 employees, they can only recover $50,000 in damages, according to the EEOC. For employers with over 500 employees, the limit is $300,000 — the maximum amount in damages that can be recovered.
Gilbride called these limits “outdated” and “a moral failing” in an interview with Law360 published Feb. 9.
In Wisconsin in July 2021, a federal jury awarded $125 million to a former Walmart employee in a disability discrimination case filed by the EEOC, McClatchy News previously reported. Walmart fired the worker with down syndrome after she worked for the company for 16 years, officials said.
However, due to federal limits, Walmart only had to pay $300,000, not $125 million, according to the Associated Press.
The limits don’t apply to back pay, Burstein said.
The woman who applied to work for McLane Northeast can recover the full amount in back pay she was awarded.
“The jury clearly understood that what McLane did here was wrong,” Caitlin Brown, an EEOC trial attorney who also represented the case, said in a statement.
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