So many of the responses to COVID-19 were infuriating, ridiculous, transparently unnecessary, just a neverending stream of bad science leading to indefensible decisions motivated by nothing more than hysteria.
So it feels really good to see someone finally win some of it back:
A 26-year-old woman has won a $180,000 payout after suing a Minnesota hospital for denying her a job because she is deaf.
Kaylah Vogt reached a consent decree at the U.S. District Court in Minneapolis on Thursday. It means North Memorial Health made no admission of wrongdoing but agreed to make the payout and other actions addressed in the suit.
Vogt claimed she had applied to be a greeter at the health care system's hospital in Robbinsdale but, despite being qualified, was refused the job because pandemic masking rules meant she would struggle to lip-read while working.
Now, at this point you might reasonably be concluding: "Look, those masking policies were always pretty stupid and indefensible. But the hospital does have a point about this woman not being able to lip-read because of the masks, right?"
Not quite:
The suit also pointed out that Vogt wears hearing aids which allow her to 'hear people speaking without any difficulty. Vogt can communicate verbally [and] can also communicate with American Sign Language.'
Sorry, North Memorial!
The terms of the settlement, meanwhile, are meant to ensure that this does not happen again:
Among the requirements of the consent decree, which lasts for two years, North Memorial must: 'Apply its disability anti-discrimination and reasonable accommodation policies to all applicants and employees hired to work at North Memorial Health, whether they are hired by North Memorial directly or through a staffing firm.'
It is also required to: 'Provide reasonable accommodation unless doing so would result in an undue hardship on the health system or a direct threat, submit to the EEOC any reports of complaints of failure to hire or failure to accommodate based on disability and provide training to employees involved in the hiring process.'
