Job applicants in New Jersey have a right to expect that employers will objectively view their qualifications without regard to certain personal characteristics, such as gender, race or disability. Regrettably, employers do engage in discriminatory practices by refusing to hire applicants based on factors other than their ability to do the job well. Federal and state laws have been instituted to address such injustices.

A recent settlement in a disability discrimination lawsuit provided vindication for a man with epilepsy. The man was applying for a maintenance position at Tyson Foods, but was not chosen for the job. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed the suit on his behalf, arguing that Tyson Foods’ decision not to hire him contravened the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The man was not applying to work at Tyson for the first time; in fact, the company had employed him twice before during the prior 12 years. But since he last worked for the company, Tyson created a new protocol to examine the medical condition of applicants. The company stated that the man failed the portion of the examination that was used to determine if an applicant’s epilepsy would pose a safety hazard to the workplace.

But the company’s doctor never performed a test on the man. Instead, he concluded that the man was unfit for the job based solely on old studies of the disease. Furthermore, Tyson had a number of employees with epilepsy at that time.

The terms of the settlement modify Tyson’s medical protocol for applicants. If a person is deemed unqualified by Tyson’s medical examination, the applicant can request an additional medical examination. A third and final examination is available to those turned down by the second examination. The man in this case also received $35,000, which represents his damages and back pay.

Source: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, “Tyson Foods Settles EEOC Disability Discrimination Lawsuit,” Feb. 23, 2012.