Diabetes Discrimination Lawsuit

Attorneys with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (”EEOC”) announced in July 2, 2009 agency Press Release that the EEOC filed a disability discrimination lawsuit against a large construction company, alleging the company violated federal law by rescinding a conditional job offer to an applicant because it learned he had diabetes.  See, http://www.eeoc.gov/press/7-2-09a.html .  According to the EEOC Press Release, once the company learned that the applicant had diabetes, it rescinded a job offer.  As the Press Release stated, it is a violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act to refuse to hire an applicant based on his disability.  An EEOC attorney was quoted in the Press Release as saying that “The EEOC will take action when an employer unlawfully makes a hiring decision based on ill-founded stereotypes and biases against a person with a disability rather than on his proven ability to do the job.”  During Fiscal Year 2008, disability discrimination charges rose to 19,453 - an increase of 10% from the prior fiscal year.

Whether diabetes related disability discrimination occurs in Amarillo, Dallas, Lubbock or elsewhere, workplace victims of disability bias may contact the EEOC and an attorney or lawyer to determine if a disability discrimination lawsuit may ultimately be appropriate under the particular circumstances and facts of the potential disability harassment claim.