13 | EEOC-INITIATED LITIGATION: 2026 EDITION ©2026 Seyfarth Shaw LLP Reflective of its emphasis on protecting employees under the ADA, the Commission filed 34 cases under the Americans with Disabilities Act during FY 2025.29 Focusing on hearing or vision-impaired workers, the Commission brought suit on behalf of an employee, for instance, who was fired after she developed cortical blindness and had to use Job Access with Speech (“JAWS”), a screen reader application, to navigate computer desktops and websites. Instead of permitting the employee to use JAWS or providing other reasonable accommodations, the employer kept her on an unpaid, involuntary leave for almost four years and then fired her after failing to facilitate her return to work.30 In another case, an employer was alleged to have violated the ADA by failing to provide employees who are blind or have other visual impairments with accommodations that would allow them to independently access their employee benefits information and trainings. According to the EEOC, reasonable accommodations, including the implementation of technological fixes such as JAWS scripting, or requiring that third-party vendors provide accessible benefits portals, would have effectively accommodated these employees by making the portals and trainings accessible to them.31 The EEOC’s message: employers must provide reasonable accommodations to disabled applicants and employees, not only during the interview process, but throughout the entire employment relationship and with respect to all aspects of the employment relationship. The EEOC’s increased scrutiny on these issues is likely to continue and employers should recognize that the EEOC will target decisions it believes are based on stereotypes. 6. Focus Area: Hearing Impairment Issues in Recruiting and Hiring Relatedly, while the EEOC’s disability-related lawsuits have concerned a broad range of disabilities, the Commission prioritized hearing-related disabilities in recent years. Specifically since publishing its guidance regarding hearing disabilities in the workplace in January 2023, the Commission filed nine cases on behalf of hearing impaired employees in FY 2023 and seven in FY 2024.32 In FY 2025, the Commission only filed two cases on behalf of individuals with hearing impairments, consistent with its decrease in overall filings. Like the cases filed in FYs 2023 and 2024, however, the cases filed by the EEOC in FY 2025 related to hiring and recruiting. For example, a staffing company in one case allegedly stopped recruiting an applicant after the recruiter learned the candidate was “hard of hearing” and required an accommodation for an interview.33 In another case, the employer allegedly refused to hire deaf individuals for a driver position, despite the ready availability of technological accommodations and, in some instances, their previous experience as drivers for other companies.34 Once again, these cases signal the EEOC’s message that it expects employers (and employment agencies) to engage in the interactive process with applicants and employees, including during the interview process, and ensure decisions regarding hiring and recruiting are not made based on stereotypes. 7. Staffing Company Issues In the FY 2024-2028 SEP, staffing relationships are no longer an “emerging and developing” issue, as they were in the previous SEP. Instead, the EEOC has expanded its efforts related to “vulnerable and underserved workers”—those “who may be unaware of their rights under [EEO] laws, may be reluctant or unable to exercise their legally protected rights, or have historically been underserved by federal 29 See Christopher J. DeGroff, Andrew L. Scroggins, Samantha L. Brooks, and James P. Nasiri, Frozen Pipeline: Examining the EEOC’s Quietest Year in a Decade, Workplace Class Action Blog (Sept. 30, 2025), https://www.workplaceclassaction.com/2025/09/frozen-pipeline-examining-the-eeocsquietest-year-in-a-decade/. 30 EEOC v. American Airlines, Inc., 4:25-cv-01056 (N.D. Tex. Sept. 29, 2025). 31 EEOC v. Pearson Education, Inc., No. 2:25-cv-12214 (D.N.J. June 27, 2025). 32 See Christopher J. DeGroff, Andrew L. Scroggins, James P. Nasiri, and Samantha L. Brooks, EEOC Case Filings Plummet: A Look at the EEOC’s Surprisingly Sluggish FY 2024 (Sept. 30, 2024), https://www.seyfarth.com/news-insights/eeoc-case-filings-plummet-a-look-at-the-eeocssurprisingly-sluggish-fy-2024.html. 33 EEOC v. Digital Intelligence Systems, LLC, No. 4:25-cv-04589 (S.D. Tex. Sept. 25, 2025). 34 EEOC v. Alto Experience, Inc., 1:24-cv-2208 (E.D. Va. Dec. 6, 2024).
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