Manager Asked What!? Interview Mistake Prompts $30K Payout

As an HR pro, you know what NOT to ask during job interviews. But how confident are you in your hiring managers?

Have they been given guidelines on how to avoid asking illegal interview questions? And have they also received training on the most effective interview questions?

Skipping such training can be an expensive mistake, as a recent case out of Pennsylvania shows.

He asked what!? Interview questions raise eyebrows

An applicant with a disability applied for a job working as a busser at an Olive Garden located in Tarentum, which is just outside of Pittsburgh.

He was interviewed for the job by the restaurant’s general manager.

During the interview, the general manager allegedly asked the applicant several questions related to his disability. Among other things, the manager asked:

• Why the applicant uses a cane to walk
• What was “wrong with” him, and
• “How bad” his disability was.

The applicant said the general manager then ended the interview.

Olive Garden didn’t hire the applicant — and he filed a charge with the EEOC.

EEOC steps in

The EEOC sued on the applicant’s behalf, asserting the restaurant declined to hire the applicant because of his disability and because of the info gleaned from the “manager’s illegal questions” during the interview.

In the agency’s view, the alleged conduct violated Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits:

• Disability discrimination in employment, and
• Making pre-offer inquiries that are likely to reveal the existence of a candidate’s disability or the nature and extent of such a disability.

“Workers with disabilities provide invaluable contributions to their employers and to the American economy when given a fair opportunity to show their job-related knowledge, skills, and abilities,” said EEOC Regional Attorney Debra Lawrence. “The EEOC is strongly committed to protecting disabled workers from job discrimination, including illegal disability-related inquiries, which often produce employment decisions rooted in prejudice, implicit bias, unfounded fears or assumptions, or a desire to evade the legal duty to provide reasonable accommodations.”

EEOC Philadelphia District Director Jamie Williamson said, “The promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act is that every worker, from the part-time employee earning minimum wage to the corporate CEO, will be treated by employers based on their individual merits and not rejected or dismissed based on their disabilities. The EEOC and its employees will continue to strive every day to make that promise a reality.”

Company pays $30K

Ultimately, the parties reached an agreement to settle out of court.

Olive Garden agreed to pay $30,000 to the job applicant and provide other relief. Under the consent decree, Olive Garden:

• Is prohibited from engaging in disability discrimination
• Is prohibited from conducting unlawful disability-related inquiries or medical examinations of job applicants and then taking employment actions based on info obtained through such unlawful inquiries in the future
• Is required to provide mandatory training to the general manager and other specified employees working at the store, and
• Is required to submit to EEOC monitoring.

Info: Olive Garden/GMRI Inc. To Pay $30,000 To Settle EEOC Disability Discrimination Suit, 4/9/24.