The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has filed a lawsuit against nonprofit organization Didlake, Inc., a government contractor known for providing janitorial and maintenance employees to federal worksites across Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. The nonprofit is charged with violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
According to the lawsuit, Didlake failed in providing reasonable accommodations to its deaf and hard-of-hearing employees, thereby infringing the ADA. The Act makes it a mandate for employers to offer reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities, unless it causes an undue hardship. Any failure to provide the required support constitutes discrimination.
It has also been disclosed in the lawsuit that Didlake terminated the services of certain employees who requested medical leave. Such action, the EEOC maintains, is a further violation of the ADA. The controversy surrounding intermittent or long-term leave as reasonable accommodation has been a historic one, causing many employers to find themselves in legal hot water.
The EEOC is seeking to right these wrongs by enforcing a permanent injunction to prevent Didlake from any future practice of disability discrimination. Additionally, they are demanding back pay compensation, as well as compensatory and punitive damages for aggrieved employees, and are insisting on Didlake to implement comprehensive policies, procedures, and staff training to ensure ADA compliance.
For more details, read the full report.
Disclosures like these underscore the salient requirement for every organization, regardless of its size, to comprehend and apply anti-discrimination legislation such as the ADA. Doing so not only helps create a supportive and enabling work environment, but also significantly lowers the risk of expensive and reputation-damaging lawsuits.