National Telecommuting Institute, Inc. (“NTI”), a staffing support firm based out of Massachusetts, recently agreed to a $1.25M settlement with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) to settle claims it violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) since at least 2017.

The EEOC alleged that NTI refused to refer or place, as telephone-based customer service agents, blind and low-vision job applicants who used accessibility technologies, like screen readers that convert computer text to speech, because it assumed clients could not support the technology.  The EEOC also alleged that NTI denied applicants disability-related accommodations during the application process. 

In addition to the $1.25M payment, NTI must provide internal training about rights and responsibilities under the ADA, revise its policies and practices concerning reasonable accommodations, and appoint an internal ADA coordinator and external monitor to ensure compliance with these measures.

What would a respectful workplace have done?

Respectful workplaces do not close their doors to applicants who require reasonable accommodations.  To the contrary, they provide required reasonable accommodations during the application process and employment.  They train their recruiters, hiring managers, human resources, and others on the “interactive process” and ensure applicants and employees with disabilities are not unlawfully denied equal access to the benefits and privileges of employment.  They foster an environment of diversity and inclusion, and base employment decisions on an individual’s skill, experience, education and other job-related requirements of the position, not whether the individual requires an accommodation.

Do your employees understand what they must do when an applicant or employee requires a reasonable accommodation?  To find out more about our training programs, including on unconscious bias, or to book a workshop, please call 800-458-2778 or email us.

Information here is correct at the time it is posted. Case decisions cited here may be reversed. Please do not rely on this information without consulting an attorney first.