AXIOM STAFFING SUED FOR DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION

Staffing Companies Refused to Hire Applicant with Back Impairment, EEOC Says

BALTIMORE – Two staffing  agencies with headquarters in Georgia, Axiom Staffing Group, Inc., and Axiom  Staffing Group of Virginia, Inc., engaged in disability discrimination at their  Hagerstown, Md., facility when they refused to hire an  applicant because of her back impairment, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity  Commission (EEOC) announced in a lawsuit today.

The EEOC said  that when an agent of the staffing companies learned during a job interview  that Deborah Reynolds had a back impairment, the agent declared that Reynolds  would be “too much of a liability because of her back.” The Axiom representative said the staffing  companies would not hire anyone with health problems because it “would be too  burdensome to replace them should something happen.” Even though Reynolds responded that she could  perform clerical and customer service duties as she had for years, the companies’  agent reiterated that they would not hire her “because of her back,” the EEOC  said.

A few  months later, Reynolds called to ask about a job advertisement for a customer  service representative job posted by the Axiom staffing companies. Despite her qualifications, the EEOC says  that the companies’ representative told Reynolds that she would not be hired  because of her “back ailment.”

The ADA prohibits  discrimination based on disability. The  ADA also requires employers to reasonably accommodate an individual’s  disability unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the employer. The EEOC attempted to reach a voluntary  settlement before it filed suit in U.S. District Court for the District of  Maryland, Northern Division (Civil Action No. 09-cv-02567-WDQ).

“The ADA was passed precisely to prevent situations  like this -- when employers act based on stereotypes, myths and fears rather  than on accurate assessments of a person’s abilities and need for accommodation,  if any,” said Debra Lawrence, acting  regional attorney of the EEOC’s Philadelphia District Office, which  oversees Maryland. “Employers who ignore  the requirements of the ADA  not only lose out on hiring valuable employees, they open themselves up to  lawsuits such as this one.”

During fiscal  year 2008, disability discrimination charges rose to 19,453-- an increase of 10  percent from the prior fiscal year and the highest number of disability charges  filed with the EEOC in 14 years.

The  EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Further information about the EEOC is  available on its web site at www.eeoc.gov.