Compliance January 11, 2004

Disability Activist Wins EEOC Settlement

November 25, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has settled a discrimination suit with aerospace and systems control company Honeywell for $100,000.
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The suit – EEOC and Sherry Layne v Honeywell – alleged that Honeywell violated the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) when it involuntarily transferred Sherry Layne, who is hearing and visually impaired and failed to accommodate her disability.   Additionally, requests by Layne to have her disability accommodated for resulted in discrimination by the company.  

The settlement is in addition to a Consent Decree, signed and entered by Federal District Judge Stephen McNamee, which Honeywell agreed to enter into.   Under the Decree, the Union Hills, Arizona Honeywell facility is:

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  • Prohibited from engaging in any employment practice that discriminates on the basis of a disability
  • Prohibited form retaliating against an employee who seeks to exercise rights under the ADA
  • To provide training to employees involved in the decision making process for providing accommodations to employees with disabilities.

The EEOC said it filed suit only after all attempts to reach a voluntary settlement out of court were exhausted.

Layne has been involved in previous ADA suits.   In 1999, America West Airlines refused to allow her seeing-eye dog to sit with her in first class after another passenger complained.   The Department of Transportation filed a complaint on her behalf leading to a heightened awareness that other passenger opinions my not interfere with a disabled passenger’s rights.

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