Des Plaines Limousine Service Refused to Hire Applicant Because He Is Deaf, Federal Agency Charges

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.

The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. M&M Limousine, 19-CV-4213) in U.S. District Court for Northern District of Illinois after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. The lawsuit asks the court to issue an injunction against M&M prohibiting the company from engaging in employment practices that discriminate on the basis of disability in the future and ordering M&M to carry out policies, practices and programs that provide equal opportunities for people with disabilities. The lawsuit also asks M&M to provide back pay and front pay as well as compensatory and punitive damages to the affected applicant.

"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.

Julianne Bowman, the EEOC's district director in Chicago, added, "The ADA was enacted to combat the type of unsubstantiated assumption which M&M made that a person with a disability is incapable of performing work."