The EEOC recently alleged that an American Airlines reservations representative in Fort Worth, who developed cortical blindness, was denied the essential tools she needed to perform her job. She requested screen reader software—a standard, inexpensive technology that converts text to speech—and, alternatively, a transfer to a vacant position. According to the agency, American provided neither, instead placing her on involuntary leave for nearly four years before terminating her. On August 28, 2026, the EEOC announced a $200,000 settlement to resolve the lawsuit. For any disability discrimination lawyer in California, this case serves as a stark reminder of the consequences when the interactive process breaks down.
What Happened: Four Years of Unpaid Leave Instead of a Screen Reader
The Commission filed U.S. EEOC v. American Airlines, Inc., No. 4:25-cv-01056-P, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division, after first attempting to resolve the matter through its administrative conciliation process.
The agency’s charge alleged both a refusal to accommodate and a failure to engage in the interactive process. American, the EEOC alleged, refused to authorize the transfer—and separately failed to take the legally required steps to enable the employee to use screen reader software for her job or to help her find another reasonable accommodation. Instead, it moved her onto unpaid, involuntary leave. She remained on that status for four years. Then, on the EEOC’s account, American fired her after failing to facilitate her return to work.
What Counts as a Reasonable Accommodation Under the ADA?
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires an employer to make reasonable accommodations for an employee’s known disability unless doing so would impose an undue hardship, and it prohibits terminating an employee because of a disability, including when the termination is caused by the employer’s own failure to accommodate.
Both accommodations this employee requested are written into the statute. Section 12111(9)(B) of Title 42 lists “acquisition or modification of equipment or devices” and “reassignment to a vacant position” among the examples of reasonable accommodation. Screen reader software fits the first. A transfer fits the second. Neither request was unusual.
What Is the Interactive Process Under California’s FEHA?
While this was a federal case, it highlights obligations familiar to any disability discrimination lawyer in California. Under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), Government Code section 12940(m) mandates reasonable accommodation for known disabilities. Section 12940(n) goes further and makes it a separate unlawful practice to fail to engage in a timely, good faith, interactive process. As noted in Gelfo v. Lockheed Martin Corp. (2006) 140 Cal.App.4th 34, 54, this duty is an independent basis for liability, so an employer cannot ignore a request and later claim that no solution existed.
That claim has limits. Under Scotch v. Art Institute of California (2009) 173 Cal.App.4th 986, 1018-1019, a plaintiff bringing a section 12940(n) claim must still identify a reasonable accommodation that was available at the time the interactive process should have occurred. The point of the separate claim is not that the employer’s silence is actionable in a vacuum. It exists because an employer that never engages cannot then argue nothing would have worked, when it is the employer’s own conduct that left the record empty. As Gelfo put it, the duty to accommodate and the duty to discuss are inextricably linked.
What the $200,000 Consent Decree Requires American Airlines to Do
Under a two-year consent decree, American Airlines will pay the former employee $200,000. (Keep in mind that Title VII claims, which the EEOC enforces, have damages caps that do not apply in California cases.) The more interesting part is what American has to do going forward.
American committed to integrating the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines into its development of new, accessible reservation software projected to launch in 2027. It must have a trained specialist conduct an accessibility audit of that software and dedicate up to 120 hours of labor to remedying barriers that remain for blind and visually impaired employee-users. The airline will also train the human resource employees whose job duties include responding to reasonable accommodation requests, post an employee notice about disability discrimination, and provide reports to the EEOC about relevant employee accommodation requests.
EEOC Dallas District Office Director Travis Nicholson identified why that matters: “American has agreed to incorporate critical web accessibility standards into the development of new software, helping ensure its technology is accessible to employees with disabilities. Building accessibility into new systems from the start can help prevent similar barriers in the future.”
EEOC Acting Dallas Regional Attorney Ronald L. Phillips pointed to the resources available to employers, saying in part: “There are numerous technical resources available to aid employers in their search for reasonable accommodations, including government rehabilitation agencies, non-profit organizations, technology consultants and the Job Accommodation Network.”
What Happens If Your Employer Ignores an Accommodation Request?
The American Airlines settlement highlights two primary points for those seeking workplace accommodations.
First, silence is not a defense. Section 12940(n) makes the failure to engage a standalone violation, which means an employer can lose on that claim separately from the accommodation claim itself. And the process the statute describes is not abstract. It means answering the request instead of letting it sit in an HR queue, meeting with the employee to work out what she can and cannot do, asking her treating provider for written restrictions when the limitations are unclear, and looking at the positions actually open before concluding that nothing exists. On the EEOC’s account, American did none of that. It never tested whether commercially available screen reader software would let a blind reservations agent do a job that consists largely of reading a screen and talking on a phone.
Second, in our experience employers rarely issue a flat denial: they stall. A request goes to HR and no one follows up. The employee is told to stay home until the company figures something out. The leave gets renewed in 30-day increments with no return date attached. Vacant positions she is qualified for get posted and filled by other people while she waits. Four years of unpaid leave, as alleged here, is the extreme version of that pattern, but the same sequence plays out over six months in cases we see regularly. If you are sitting on leave you did not ask for, write down the date of every request you made and who you made it to, and keep copies. An employer that never engaged cannot produce a record of the discussion it never had, and those gaps are what the claim is built on.
Talk to a California Disability Discrimination Attorney
If you requested a disability accommodation in California and your employer placed you on extended leave instead, or terminated you after your request went unanswered, you may have claims under both the ADA and FEHA.
King & Siegel LLP represents employees throughout California and Texas from its offices in Los Angeles, Sacramento, and Walnut Creek. We have recovered over $100 million for employees, including numerous seven-figure disability discrimination settlements. Contact us for a free, no-obligation consultation.
Julian Burns King graduated with honors from Harvard Law School and founded King & Siegel in 2018. As head of the Firm’s discrimination and harassment practice areas, she champions the rights of working parents and victims of workplace discrimination and harassment. She has been recognized as a “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers annually since 2018 and has recovered tens of millions of dollars on behalf of her clients.