[nfbmi-talk] speaking of cils and access

[joe harcz Comcast]

Same failures of CILs and even the BSBP to accommodate the  communications needs of blind persons goes on here in Michigan over and over again.

 

Joe Harcz

 

 

Disability nonprofit discriminated against deaf employee, suit alleges | The Detroit NewsJuly 13, 2014 at 1:00 am

 

Disability nonprofit discriminated against deaf employee, suit alleges

List of 4 items

• Lauren Abdel-Razzaq

• The Detroit News

• 5 Comments

• 

list end

 

Detroit— A Detroit nonprofit dedicated to helping those with disabilities is being sued for allegedly discriminating against a deaf employee.

 

A federal suit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims Disability

Network

Wayne County violated the law when the company refused “to provide a reasonable accommodation to Steven Jeffries, who is deaf, and by firing him on the

basis of his disability.”

 

An attorney for the nonprofit says Jeffries was simply a “poor performer” at work.

 

Jeffries, 45, declined to comment for this story.

 

He began working for the Disability Network in September 2005 as an independent living specialist, helping disabled clients, said his attorney, Nedra Campbell

with the EEOC. According to Campbell, the nonprofit violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by firing Jeffries without giving him the

tools

he needed to do his job.

 

“More specifically, (the) defendant discriminated against Jeffries on the basis of his disability when it failed to provide him with a reasonable accommodation

and discharged him because of his disability,” the lawsuit says.

 

According to the suit, filed in U.S. District Court and being heard before Judge Linda V. Parker, Jeffries requested TTY equipment, a video phone and text

messaging to community. He was fired April 10, 2012, court

documents

say.

 

Greg Liepshutz, an attorney for the Disability Network, said most of the company’s employees have some kind of disability and officials were not discriminating

against Jeffries when they fired him.

 

“He was a poor performer,” said Liepshutz. “He was counseled consistently on his poor

performance .

”

 

Combined with a lost grant that forced the company to make cuts, Liepshutz said Jeffries never properly followed the process for putting his requests for

special equipment in writing.

 

“He was terminated because he couldn’t do his job, refused to do his job,” said Liepshutz. “When the facts come out, we’ll be able to prove he was fired

for legitimate reasons.”

 

Campbell, Jeffries’ attorney, says the EEOC conducted an investigation before filing the suit and determined he was not the slacker depicted by Liepshutz.

 

“If the commission felt that was the case, we wouldn’t have filed the complaint,” she said.

 

The suit asks for the nonprofit to be forced to pay Jeffries back pay as well as past and future monetary losses from “emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience

and humiliation.” An actual monetary amount is not listed.

 

A scheduling conference is set for 10 a.m. July 18 before Judge Parker.

 

lrazzaq at detroitnews.com

 

(313) 222-2127

 

Source:

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140713/METRO01/307130006/Disability-nonprofit-discriminated-against-deaf-employee-suit-alleges