Lawsuit Forces Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas to Pay $75,000 to Deaf Applicant

Lawsuit Forces Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas to Pay $75,000 to Deaf Applicant: A federal judge signed a decree requiring Richardson-based Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas to pay a deaf woman $75,000 and other relief for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, as first reported in the Dallas Morning News. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced the results of its lawsuit against BCBS of Texas this week. According to the lawsuit, a deaf woman named Sheryl Meador applied online to be a claims examiner, and was asked to complete an assessment with an audio portion. The assessment did not have accommodations for hearing-impaired applicants, and Meador was unable to complete it. The suit, which was filed in the Northern District of Texas, says that Meador contacted the insurer making her aware of her disability, but the company stopped communicating with her before she received any accommodations. The EEOC says that BCBS violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, which protects disabled employees from discrimination based on their