Archive for April, 2009
April 21st, 2009Company Failed to Provide Interpreter for Hearing-Impaired Employee, Federal Agency Charges
PRESS RELEASE
4-16-09
MIAMI — The Florida Institute for Neurologic Rehabilitation, Inc. (FINR) violated federal law when it denied a job to a hearing-impaired person because of her disability, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed yesterday.
The EEOC’s suit, Case No. 8:09cv716-T23MAP, filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida (Tampa Division), said FINR refused to provide an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter to assist a female housekeeping worker through her training period. As a result, the EEOC said, she could not complete the training and lost the job.
Disability discrimination violates the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), which requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for employees’ disabilities as long as this does not pose an undue hardship on the business. Read the rest of this entry »
April 21st, 2009EEOC Says Company to Pay $20,000 for Firing Expectant Mother
PRESS RELEASE
4-17-09
LITTLE ROCK – A North Little Rock, Ark.-based third-party receivables management company for health clubs will pay $20,000 to settle a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.
The EEOC’s suit (Civil Action No. 4:08-CV-2816, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, at Little Rock) charged that ABC Financial Services fired Reshma Bandaru because she was pregnant. According to the EEOC, Bandaru was hired as a data entry clerk and placed into a four-week training program at the company’s Sherwood facility. After the training, employees were required to take a test. Approximately one week after Bandaru began the training, she was hospitalized for a condition unrelated to her pregnancy and missed a day and a half of the training. Thereafter, the company fired her because she had missed work and would need further leave to have her baby. Read the rest of this entry »
April 21st, 2009Hispanic, Black Employees Subjected to Racial and Ethnic Slurs, Agency Charged
PRESS RELEASE
4-16-09
MIAMI – National department store Nordstrom, Inc. will pay $292,500 to 10 former employees and furnish other remedial measures to settle a harassment lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. EEOC had charged that the department store manager harassed Hispanic and black employees based on their national origin, race, and color, and retaliated against those who complained about the harassment.
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, an alterations department manager complained that she “hate[d] Hispanics,” and that Hispanics were “lazy” and “ignorant.” Hispanic tailors were chastised by the alterations manager for speaking to each other in Spanish. The same manager made other derogatory remarks such as “I don’t like blacks” and “you’re black, you stink.” The alterations manager harassed the alterations staff at Nordstrom stores in Palm Beach Gardens and Wellington, Fla. Read the rest of this entry »
