A Message from EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows for 2024 National Disability Employment Awareness Month

This October, we commemorate National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM), uniting around the 2024 theme Access to Good Jobs for All. Recent milestone anniversaries for landmark civil rights laws have been a golden opportunity to recognize the disability rights movement and other advocates, who toppled enormous barriers to institute workplace inclusion at a fundamental level. This year’s NDEAM theme calls on us to build upon this incredible foundation to ensure access to good jobs and a meaningful chance for all to contribute.

America relies on the expertise and ingenuity of individuals with disabilities for our nation’s prosperity and the economy, as alluded to in the President’s NDEAM Proclamation, 2024. In the past year, the EEOC has sought to protect workers’ rights by bringing court cases under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The EEOC’s litigation on behalf of individuals with disabilities addresses discrimination involving a wide variety of industries, fields, occupations, positions, and geographic locations supporting our economy. The EEOC prioritizes the rights of all individuals with disabilities across the board.

Two recent notable cases seek to remedy situations in which people with disabilities were unlawfully excluded from, or forced out of, lucrative careers in fields such as engineering and sales. In one suit, the EEOC charged that the employer rescinded a job offer from a qualified engineer with decades of manufacturing experience because he is hard of hearing. In another, the EEOC’s investigation had found that the employer failed to accommodate a high-grossing sales associate with diabetic neuropathy, resulting in her resignation to avoid further daily physical pain. 

The EEOC also recently resolved a number of lawsuits involving integral sectors of our economy, like shipping and logistics, automotives, and pharmaceuticals. For instance, the EEOC obtained a settlement of $400,000 for a manager in a case in which the EEOC concluded that he had been discharged for requesting leave to see his doctor about biopsy results. The EEOC also resolved a case in which the agency’s investigation found that an employer demoted and then fired an automotive service advisor who was ready to return to work after intensive rehabilitation for a serious injury—resulting in a payment of $105,000 for the employee. The EEOC also obtained $515,000 for employees in a case alleging that their employer made unlawful inquiries about their disabilities, pressuring them to use the company’s pharmacy services for expensive treatment medication.

In addition to the EEOC’s work focused on the private sector, we also support federal agencies in promoting inclusivity for persons with disabilities in the federal workforce. Federal government jobs are both desirable and meaningful. The EEOC recently released multiple reports and resources specifically for the federal workforce: Retaining Persons with Disabilities in the Federal Workforce; Promising Practices for Using Schedule A to Recruit, Hire, Advance, and Retain Persons with Disabilities; The Impact of Telework on Personal Assistance Services; and Providing an Accessible Workplace. Through the EEOC’s dissemination of these research findings and promising practices, our federal agency partners can explore new approaches to building talent and advancing equity for employees and applicants with disabilities at federal agencies.

The Commission also embraces and celebrates the idea that good jobs come in a variety of forms, and the agency’s strategic enforcement priority to promote inclusive workplaces for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) reinforces our commitment to achieving economic justice for all vulnerable and underserved workers. Through the launch of a new landing page, Helpful Tools for Workers with I/DD and Their Employers, the EEOC provides technical assistance, guidance, and disability-related resources for employers, employees, and stakeholders so they can understand and prevent employment discrimination against people with I/DD. Also, as a government member of the President’s Committee for People with Disabilities (PCPID), the EEOC contributed to a recently released report that highlights employment as one of four focus areas, and features the story of an EEOC charging party with I/DD, Paul. Paul was let go after 16 years as a successful cart attendant at a store in Beloit, Wisconsin, when a new manager raised concerns about his use of a job coach due to his disability. The EEOC’s lawsuit in this case resulted in a jury award of $5 million in punitive damages (later reduced to $100,000), $200,000 in compensatory damages, and more than $122,000 in lost wages.

As reflected in these stories and cases, access to good jobs and job retention is vital. The Commission also uses outreach and education on specific topics to inform people about their rights and employers about their obligations under the ADA. For example, the EEOC remains vigilant about the pandemic’s long-term effects, including Long COVID, and how affected employees can retain jobs, with reasonable accommodation, that they may have held for years before the pandemic. To help spread the word about civil rights protections for workers and job seekers, the EEOC contributed to the new Long COVID as a Disability webpage, available on COVID.gov, and also to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ February 2024 report Implementation of the Government-wide Response to Long COVID. Additionally, the EEOC, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the Social Security Administration collaborated to provide training on Long COVID and disability issues to over 200 VA clinicians through the Veterans Health Administration’s national education platform. The EEOC later adapted this successful training and conducted it for Long COVID support groups at a clinic in Boston.

As an agency, we will continue to adapt to these and other evolving challenges—following the example of the disability rights movement and other civil rights trailblazers—to ensure that individuals with disabilities have access to good jobs and can keep them.
 

Charlotte A. Burrows (she/her/hers)

Chair

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission