Deaf man sues AOL alleging discrimination
Damages sought in claim call center refused to hire disabled man
Tuesday, April 04, 2000
By KARI LYNN HARLAND
Standard-Examiner staff
OGDEN -- George Davidson said when he applied for a job at the America
Online Ogden Call Center, he was turned away just because he was deaf.
Now he's suing the company for discriminating against him.
In his lawsuit against AOL, Davidson, 26, claims he applied twice in
the fall of 1997 and was told both times that AOL no longer hired deaf
people. He said he was applying for a teletype-writer position or
another non-phone job.
Rich D'Amato, spokesman for AOL, denies the charge. "America Online
has a policy of absolute nondiscrimination and equal employment," he
said.
Davidson said he is good with computers and types 80 words per minute,
but the AOL human-resource representatives didn't even want to look at
his resume. He said he was told he could apply, but he wasn't going to
be hired.
D'Amato said he couldn't comment on what Davidson was told, but
according to the company's policy, nothing discriminatory should have
been said. D'Amato also said there weren't any jobs open that Davidson
could perform.
"The positions being applied for were simply not being hired for," he
said.
D'Amato said they don't get a lot of calls over the teletype-writer
and that position had been combined with other jobs. He said there are
other positions deaf people can perform, such as e-mail and Instant
Message corresponding. But these positions weren't available when
Davidson applied, he said.
In fact, no one has been hired for these positions since the center
opened in 1996. Employees are moved up internally to fill these
positions, after having worked phone positions.
Davidson said this is the problem.
Since the only non-phone positions are being filled by people who
previously worked the phone positions, it basically means deaf people
are no longer being hired, he said.
D'Amato said he couldn't say how many deaf people work for the Ogden
Call Center or when the last deaf person was hired, since they don't
keep track of that kind of information.
The case has been filed in federal court, but Davidson's attorney,
Stephen Horvat, said the case probably won't go on trial until around
May.
"The main purpose is to establish that AOL discriminated against Mr.
Davidson," Horvat said. "Any other person can walk off the street and
be considered for employment, but since he's deaf, George wasn't."
Davidson, who lives in Ogden and works at Cactus Red's and the
Internal Revenue Service, said he is asking for punitive damages
because AOL knew what it did was wrong.
He said he also wants AOL to pay him the wages he would have made
"because we all know I would have worked there if it weren't for my
deafness.
"I want the public to know what they have done .. It hurts me a lot
knowing that the company think it's OK to say "We are no longer hiring
deaf people.'"
AOL's attorney denies almost all of Davidson's allegations. A company
spokesman also noted that AOL's Ogden center received a 1999 Golden
Key Award for Employer of the Year by the Utah Governor's Committee on
Employment of People with Disabilities.
The center was commended for reportedly having a teletype-writer in
the break room, interpreters at all company meetings and sign language
classes offered to immediate supervisors and co-workers.
But Davidson and Horvat say they are confident the court will rule in
their favor.
"I have faith in the federal court, and I think that they will
definitely see that AOL discriminates and will teach them that this is
wrong -- totally wrong!" Davidson said.
You can reach reporter Kari Lynn Harland at 625-4223 or
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