View this article online: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/midwest/2019/10/22/546274.htm
A janitorial contractor in the Cleveland suburb of Cuyahoga Heights will pay $315,000 to settle federal charges of age and disability discrimination.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) says that an investigation revealed that Janitorial Services Inc. & Arbeit Inc. (JSI) failed to hire a class of applicants for various positions because of their disability or age.
The evidence obtained by the EEOC indicated that JSI rejected disabled applicants for positions based on alleged safety or other concerns without conducting individualized assessments as required by law. The EEOC also obtained evidence indicating that applicants were rejected for hire because of their ages (40 and older).
Such alleged conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).
According to the five-year agreement resolving these charges, the monetary settlement will be divided among the alleged discrimination victims. JSI will conduct annual ADA and ADEA training for all supervisors, managers, human resources officials and company executives.
JSI will also provide periodic reports to the EEOC on all applicants; make job offers to the alleged discrimination victims; revise and distribute its internal equal employment opportunity policies to employees; and create an internal task force to ensure that applicants are hired in compliance with the law.
Furthermore, JSI will post an internal notice of the violation and will inform its clients that employees will be sent out based solely on their qualifications and without regard to their age, disability or other protected bases.
Source: EEOC