Here's a follow-up to a story distributed here a few years back. A federal
jury has stuck satellite television provider Echo Star communications with
an eight million dollar judgment for refusing to make its call center
computer system compatible with screen reader technology and refusing to
hire him because he wasn't a fast Braille reader. Let's hope this case
rings loudly throughout corporate America.
Kelly
Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO)
Saturday, May 07, 2005
EchoStar wronged blind applicant, jury finds
By John Accola,
Rocky Mountain News
His disability was the only reason he wasn't hired, panel rules
A federal jury in Denver awarded more than $8 million in a case
brought by a 36-year-old blind man Friday after finding EchoStar
Communications refused to hire him solely because of his disability.
Jury foreman Doug Auger said the evidence against the Douglas County
satellite-TV company was so damning that some jurors wanted to award
plaintiff Dale Alton, of Lakewood, as much as $30 million.
"This was a compromise," he said. "I know it probably sounds like a
lot of money . . . but it's something we felt was equitable."
EchoStar said it plans to file an appeal, even though the seven-figure
award is almost entirely symbolic.
Alton's 1999 lawsuit was brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
Because of a federal cap on civil rights damages, he stands to gain no
more than $300,000 plus $7,000 in lost wages. The complaint sought
$100,000 in compensatory damages, plus a court order requiring EchoStar to
initiate anti-discrimination reforms that would welcome blind workers to
join the company's 7,500 customer-service workforce.
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Matsch is expected to rule on the
reforms in a separate hearing.
Alton said just winning his case was enough.
"Even as a kid, he was like a bulldog," said Al Alton, the plaintiff's
father. "He was never afraid to tackle anything."
The 12-member panel began deliberations Thursday afternoon following a
3 1/2-day trial.
EchoStar argued it nixed Alton as a customer representative because he
was "too slow" in completing a Braille proficiency test. They also
maintained the company's computers aren't designed for "text to speech"
software that would allow blind workers to effortlessly answer and
research customer questions and issues. EchoStar call representatives
depend on their computer screens to trouble-shoot and call up customer
billing information.
Computer software consultant Nelson Reiser, however, testified the
adaptive software technology has been used successfully for years by call
center operations for MCI, American Express, Diners Club and Pizza Hut.
Alton had already completed a six-month customer service course at the
Colorado Center for the Blind when he was first turned down for an
EchoStar position in February 1999.
The company called him back to take a customer service skills test in
Braille format that summer after he filed a complaint with the EEOC. But
at the trial, Alton's attorneys said the Braille test was a sham, with
twice as many questions as the standard test, and that reading Braille
wasn't even a skill that Alton would use as a call operator.
"They made him take a written test in Braille when he asked for
someone to read it out loud and then refused to hire him because he was
too slow," said Dale Gaar, Alton's private attorney. "Braille had nothing
to do with it."
EchoStar spokesman Steve Caulk said Friday following the verdict that
requiring the company to redesign its call center computers to accommodate
Alton was over the top.
"We are disappointed with the outcome because the requested
accommodation to perform the job was not reasonable," he said.
Auger said jurors were offended by comments that one EchoStar worker
attributed to the company's vice president of human resources, Robert
Fuchs.
"Just make this case go away," Fuchs reportedly told one of his
managers after Alton returned the second time.
"They couldn't even take 30 minutes to have someone read the test to
him," Auger said.
Despite Alton's experience at EchoStar, EEOC attorney Anjuli Kelotra
said Alton now works for the Internal Revenue Service. "He's a customer
service representative, and he loves it," she said.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/business/article/0,1299,DRMN_4_3759448,00.html
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