[NFBC-Info] Please Read:

[Paul Howard]

-- 
Paul C. Howard
From: National Federation of the Blind <webmaster at nfb.org>
Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2021 5:30 PM
Subject: Amazon to Make more Employment Opportunities Available to the Blind


 National Federation of the Blind logo and tagline live the life you want


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Amazon to Make more Employment Opportunities Available to the
BlindAgreement with National Federation of the Blind to Make Jobs at
Amazon Fulfillment Centers Accessible to Blind Workers
Baltimore, Maryland (March 25, 2021): The National Federation of the
Blind (NFB), America’s civil rights and membership organization of the
blind, has reached an agreement with Amazon.com to expand employment
opportunities for blind people at Amazon’s order fulfillment centers.
This agreement arose from complaints to the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission by five blind individuals who were hired at
Amazon fulfillment centers but alleged they were not accommodated to
do their jobs. As part of the agreement, Amazon has reinstated four
blind individuals who had been terminated but who still wanted to work
at its fulfillment centers, with their start dates backdated to their
original hire dates. The agreement also provides that:
•Beginning in July 2021 and continuing through 2022, Amazon will
rollout accessible technology and accommodations to make fulfillment
center "job paths" accessible for blind employees. Amazon will consult
with internal and external experts to determine what technology and
accommodations are needed to make those job paths accessible for blind
employees.
•Amazon will also work with the NFB to identify accessibility
solutions and innovations for blind employees, including by providing
a tour of a fulfillment center to allow the NFB's representatives to
observe different types of job paths.
•Amazon will develop and, beginning in or around October 2021, provide
online training to the hiring, human resources, operations, and safety
management in all of its fulfillment centers regarding best practices
on providing reasonable accommodations to blind employees.
•Amazon will work with the NFB and other interested organizations to
plan and conduct outreach to the blind community to provide details of
Amazon's accommodations processes and the new accessible technologies
to assist blind employees in performing fulfillment center jobs.

“We are pleased that Amazon is committing to the steps needed to make
employment opportunities at its fulfillment centers accessible to
current and future blind workers,” said Mark Riccobono, President of
the National Federation of the Blind. “By using accessible technology
and engaging blind employees in an interactive process, there is no
reason Amazon cannot ensure that these demanding jobs can be performed
by blind people. We hope to continue our work with Amazon so that the
company becomes a leading twenty-first-century employer of the blind.”