TEXAS- American Airlines (AA) is now facing a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that claims the airline discriminated against a former reservations agent after she lost her eyesight.
According to the complaint, the employee had worked at one of American’s call centers until 2012, when she suffered an injury that caused permanent cortical blindness—a condition affecting the brain’s visual processing rather than the eyes themselves.
Photo: By Richard Silagi – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=76300185American Airlines Lawsuit for Firing Employee
After her injury, American Airlines placed the agent on medical leave while she recovered.
When she asked to return to work, she requested to use a screen‑reader program known as JAWS (Job Access With Speech) to navigate the airline’s computer systems.
Under U.S. disability law (the Americans with Disabilities Act), an employer must provide “reasonable accommodations” to a qualified employee, unless doing so causes undue hardship. The EEOC contends that using JAWS in her role would have been such an accommodation.
American Airlines reportedly responded that it had never before accommodated a fully blind person in that job, and told her that it was “impossible” to do so.
While the company explored alternative roles and tested compatibility over 18 months, it never proactively tried to integrate custom scripts or other workarounds with JAWS.
She also requested transfers to other roles, like baggage resolution or customer service. But those requests were turned down.
Eventually, after years on leave and amid a hiring freeze during the pandemic, American terminated her employment in October 2020.
Photo: Aero Icarus | FlickrLegal Arguments & Stakes
The EEOC accuses American Airlines of violating the ADA by failing to engage in a cooperative dialogue about accommodations, unreasonably delaying decisions, and not exploring available solutions.
EEOC Acting Dallas Regional Attorney Ronald L. Phillips was quoted in PYOK as saying that
Employers must act diligently, in cooperative dialogue with disabled workers, to identify and provide reasonable accommodations unless it causes undue hardship.
American Airlines has not publicly responded to these allegations yet. The lawsuit was filed in a North Texas district court under case number 4:25‑cv‑01056.
This isn’t the first time American has faced disability‑discrimination claims. In earlier litigation, the airline was required to pay millions to settle with the EEOC over claims of failing to accommodate disabled employees.
Photo: Clément AlloingBottom Line
If the EEOC prevails, it could push the airline (and others) to invest more in accessibility, make software systems more compatible with assistive tools,
The case puts pressure on major employers like American Airlines to better support employees who suffer serious disabilities.
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