APPLICANT ASKED ILLEGAL QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS DISABILITY
An Olive Garden restaurant, out in Tarentum, Pennsylvania, interviewed a disabled individual for a busser position. And, during the course of that meeting, the manager asked questions about the worker’s disability – inquiring what was “wrong with” the applicant, and how “bad” his disability was. And, ultimately, the individual was not accepted for the position because of his physical challenges.
Since it believed the entire exchange was “illegal” and violated Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed suit, (U.S. EEOC v. GMRI, Inc. d/b/a Olive Garden, Civil Action No. 2:23-cv-01448-NR in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh, seeking monetary damages and injunctive relief.
In a recently announced settlement, Olive Garden agreed to pay $30,000 to the impacted applicant, and will modify its employment and training related practices to comport with federal law.
In a written statement, EEOC Regional Attorney Debra Lawrence noted that, “Workers with disabilities provide invaluable contributions to their employers and to the American economy when given a fair opportunity to show their job-related knowledge, skills, and abilities …. The EEOC is strongly committed to protecting disabled workers from job discrimination, including illegal disability-related inquiries, which often produce employment decisions rooted in prejudice, implicit bias, unfounded fears or assumptions, or a desire to evade the legal duty to provide reasonable accommodations.”
That’s the end of that inquiry.
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