This week the EEOC announced a settlement and a lawsuit both involving employees with one arm. The settlement arose from an employer’s termination of an employee with one arm after a customer sent the employer a note that said: “The company is a joke. You sent me a one-armed security guard.”
The lawsuit arose when an applicant, who had prior experience bussing tables, was told to show up to work as a busboy at a sushi restaurant and then, when he arrived, was told by the owner that he could not bus tables because he had only one arm.
The lesson here: Customer and employer perceptions that an employee cannot do a job because of a disability may lead to liability.
