The EEOC announced today that it had settled disability discrimination lawsuits against Kintetsu International Express (for $77,500) and D.O.E. Technologies, Inc. and a related company, doeLegal, LLC (for $130,000).  

In the first case, the EEOC claimed that the employer ridiculed and disparaged an employee who had malignant rheumatoid arthritis and who walked with a limp.  

In the second case, the EEOC claimed that a sales representative with unilateral conductive hearing loss was denied reasonable accommodation by the employer, to whom he asked to be  allowed to telecommute or to work in a quiet area. 

EEOC attorneys said of the two settlements, respectively, that "Employees with disabilities deserve the same respect on the job as any other productive worker,” and that "It’s not only good business sense for employers to make simple and inexpensive modifications to the workplace for a qualified employee with a disability – such as allowing sales calls to be made in a quiet room or permitting telecommuting for certain jobs – but federal law requires that they make a good-faith effort to do so."