EEOC Sues Damar Services, Inc., for Disability Discrimination

INDIANAPOLIS - Damar Services, Inc., an Indianapolis-based residential services provider for individuals with developmental disabilities, violated federal law when it refused to hire a deaf applicant, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit announced today.

According to the lawsuit, Damar Services applied hiring standards to screen out applicants with hearing and vision disabilities and made prohibited disability-related inquiries. In March 2023, the company conducted a phone interview with an applicant for a housekeeping position. When Damar learned of the applicant's deafness during that interview, the company told him it could not accommodate his disability and rejected him, despite his ability to perform the job with or without reasonable accommodation. Additionally, Damar's interview questions included prohibited medical inquires, and its qualification standards required applicants to hear and see within normal ranges and communicate verbally.

"An employer cannot refuse to hire an applicant simply because the applicant is deaf without considering a reasonable accommodation," said Kenneth Bird, regional attorney for the EEOC's Indianapolis District Office. "Declining to hire someone because they may need a reasonable accommodation for a disability is unlawful discrimination."

The alleged conduct violated the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) which prohibits disability discrimination. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Damar Services, Inc., Case No. 1:26-cv-00575-MPB-KMB) in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.

For more information on disability discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/disability-discrimination .

The EEOC's Indianapolis District Office has jurisdiction over Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and parts of Ohio.

The EEOC is the sole federal agency authorized to investigate and litigate against businesses and other private sector employers for violations of federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. For public sector employers, the EEOC shares jurisdiction with the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division. The EEOC also is responsible for coordinating the federal government's employment antidiscrimination effort. More information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov .