Can Procuring Products Make a Customer Liable for a Supplier’s Disability Discrimination?

Thanks to Paul Harpur (TC Beirne - Queensland) for sending word of this disability case currently pending in Ohio:

On December 15, 2017, Denoewer, an adult individual with intellectual and developmental disabilities who is autistic, non-verbal, and epileptic, sued his employer of 7.5 years for disability discrimination and has joined his employer’s client claiming it was an accessory to the discrimination. The claim is available here.

Denoewer pleaded he experienced disability discrimination at the hands of his employer, Uco, a 501(c)(3) non-profit that exists to employ individuals with disabilities in a setting that is purportedly integrated (essentially a sheltered workshop). He contends that Uco breached the ADA and Ohio Rev. Code through treating him less favourably than workers without disabilities. He is seeking compensation for an amount between his actual rate of pay, and pay-related benefits, and the amounts earned and accrued by workers performing tasks that Denoewer was not permitted to perform, even though he claims he could complete, due to his impairment.

The aspect of this case which is novel is the move to sue Uco’s customer, HONDA of America MFG., Inc., for being an accessory to Uco’s disability discrimination. Honda’s accessorial liability is based upon 2 key grounds:

First Honda exercised significant economic power so as to ensure that UCO’s labor costs were lower than were lawfully possible.

Second, Honda’s specific production demands also determined which of UCO’s Production Associates would be permitted to work on the line. As a result, in some instances, non-disabled individuals were placed on the line instead of individuals with disabilities, such as Denoewer, in order to meet Honda’s specific demands.

As a consequence Denoewer is arguing that Honda aided and abetted UCO’s discriminatory conduct.

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