UPS Must Provide Sign Language Interpreter For Deaf Employee

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and United Parcel Service (UPS) have settled an employment discrimination case in California involving a deaf employee’s demand for a sign language interpreter for all meetings he was expected to attend, according to the Howe & Hutton Report.

The UPS facility did not have an interpreter on staff and its policy was not to bring one in for meetings under two hours. The employee was provided summaries of what was said at the meetings. He claimed that was not enough and the EEOC agreed. A federal appellate court in California over-turned a district court decision saying UPS had accommodated the employee’s disability. The appellate court said the employer must accommodate the employee even for situations which were not essential to his job performance as a junior accounting clerk. As a part of the settlement UPS paid $95,000.

There may be more to the story. Apparently UPS did not cite cost as a reason for not bringing in a sign language interpreter for meetings under two hours, and that might have been a reasonable accommodation cost issue. One can only speculate if the settlement will result in fewer meetings at that facility, or fewer meetings this employee is expected to attend. Will the settlement following the appellate decision be a persuasive precedent elsewhere?