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Press Release
10-24-2019
Guidewire Sued by EEOC for Disability Discrimination
Tech Firm Illegally Refused to Interview Candidate Due to Hearing Impairment Federal Agency Charges
SAN FRANCISCO – Foster City-based technology company Guidewire Software, Inc., violated federal law when it failed to accommodate and interview a qualified job applicant due to her hearing impairment, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed recently.
According to the EEOC’s investigation, the applicant applied for a contractor position as a user experience designer and, based on her resume, Guidewire’s hiring manager emailed her to schedule an initial phone screening. The applicant responded immediately, requesting a face-to-face meeting as an accommodation since her cochlear implants limit the clarity of sound coming through telephones and computers.
Guidewire instead suggested using a technology known as “Relay Conference Captioning” and the use of sign language as a back-up. When the applicant looked into this alternative, however, she found that [...]