Worker was told hearing loss wouldn’t be issue. Then she was fired over it, feds say

When a woman with a hearing condition began working as a customer service representative in New York, she was assured her hearing loss wouldn’t be a problem, according to a federal lawsuit.

However, it suddenly became an issue for the manager who had interviewed her days before her hiring, the lawsuit says.

When the employee told the manager she was having trouble hearing calls on a company-provided headset, she was told “if you cannot hear, then you can’t do the job” and was instantly fired, according to a complaint.

The woman working at the E-ZPass customer service center in Staten Island objected to the termination, saying her headset needed adjusting, but it was to no avail, the complaint says.

The company running the state’s E-ZPass toll collection system, Conduent State and Local Solutions, Inc., and the staffing agency that hired the woman, Broadleaf Results, Inc., were accused of disability discrimination, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Both companies have agreed to pay a combined $120,000 to settle the agency’s lawsuit filed on behalf of the woman, the EEOC announced in a May 10 news release.

The money is going toward the woman’s lost wages, additional damages and other relief meant to prevent both companies from engaging in future discrimination against workers, according to the agency.

Attorney Amy Habib Rittling, who represented Broadleaf in the case, said the company denies the woman’s accusations and “has admitted no wrongdoing under this settlement” in a statement to McClatchy News on May 11.

Broadleaf agreed to settle the lawsuit to avoid “costly litigation,” Rittling said.

McClatchy News contacted attorneys representing Conduent for comment on May 11 and didn’t immediately receive a response.

“In 2023, there is a vast array of adaptive and assistive technologies that employers and employees can explore to identify reasonable accommodations for employees with hearing-related disabilities,” EEOC trial attorneys Anastasia Doherty and Edumin Corrales, who represented the woman in the case, said in a statement.

“Employers should bring a creativity and interest to the interactive process, rather than resist it,” they said.

The agency’s lawsuit accused both companies of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Specifically, the woman had “moderately severe to severe bilateral hearing loss,” and managers were aware of this when they hired her, the complaint says.

According to the EEOC, the woman was protected under the ADA and firing her was illegal.

“In an economy where more companies are turning to staffing agencies to procure workers to perform essential business functions, both client employers and staffing agencies should have processes in place to ensure that workers with disabilities can request accommodations to allow them to perform the job’s essential functions,” EEOC Regional attorney Jeffrey Burstein said in a statement.

As part of the agreed-upon lawsuit settlement, Broadleaf and Conduent must update their internal policies and managers must undergo mandatory training on federal anti-disability discrimination law, according to the EEOC.

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