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The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued an Indianapolis-based disability support organization, alleging it discriminated against a job applicant because of his deafness.
The lawsuit was filed March 24 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana against Damar Services Inc., an organization that provides support and services for individuals with developmental, behavioral and intellectual disabilities.
The EEOC filed the lawsuit on behalf of Corey Garner, who applied for a housekeeping position with Damar.
“Damar believes this case is without merit. We have a long history of fair employment practices and look forward to shining a light on the truth in court,” Jenny Peters, chief strategy officer at Damar, told The Indiana Lawyer in an email.
The allegations date to February 2023, when Garner began the application process.
According to the complaint, Damar’s talent acquisition coordinator conducted a phone interview with Garner on March 1, 2023, after Garner submitted his application for the position.
During the interview, Damar learned Garner is deaf and allegedly informed him that the company couldn’t accommodate his disability.
The company rejected him for the role after the interview, saying he lacked experience. According to the complaint, Damar did not identify an experience requirement in the job posting on Indeed.com, but the organization said elsewhere that the position required three years of experience. Garner had one to two years of experience.
On March 13, 2023, Damar allegedly hired an applicant with less than three years of experience. The previous year, the company hired an applicant with fewer than two months of experience, according to the complaint.
In addition to the EEOC’s allegation that Damar discriminated against Garner by not hiring him, the commission claims Damar’s hiring practices also violate federal law.
According to the complaint, Damar used a “phone screen guide” on phone interviews, which included a set of pre-screen questions with fields for the applicant’s responses.
Two of the questions Damar’s phone screen guide asks are, “Are you able to see in the normal visual range with or without correction?” and “Are you able to hear in the normal audio range with or without correction?”
The EEOC alleges these questions are prohibited medical inquiries.
“An employer cannot refuse to hire an applicant simply because the applicant is deaf without considering a reasonable accommodation,” Kenneth Bird, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Indianapolis District Office, said in a press release. “Declining to hire someone because they may need a reasonable accommodation for a disability is unlawful discrimination.”
The EEOC alleges that Damar’s conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. The commission is seeking relief in the form of a permanent injunction enjoining Damar from rejecting applicants based on disability, using a qualification standard that screens out applicants with a disability unless the standard is job-related and asking prohibited questions about the nature of applicants’ disabilities.
Damar, founded in 1967, is the 17th largest nonprofit in the Indianapolis area, according to 2024 IBJ research. It reported $151.4 million in net assets and 1,800 employees.
The case is Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Damar Services, Inc., 1:26-cv-00575-MPB-KMB.
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