A recent opinion by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit serves as a useful reminder that an employer has an obligation under federal disability law to consider a reasonable accommodation in order to allow a qualified job applicant to take a preemployment test, including providing an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter.
Although the appeals court ultimately concluded in Williams v. MTA Bus Co., No. 20-2985 (2d Cir. August 12, 2022), that the job seeker in this instance was not otherwise qualified for the position he sought, the court essentially says the employer “got lucky” because its practices ran the risk of unlawfully denying a reasonable accommodation to a qualified job seeker.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.