As the daughter of an IRS lifer it was not until I was an adult that I understood why my Dad never wanted others to know what he did. Other people always had that almost visual reaction when they found out he worked for the IRS. Based on recent almost preposterous enforcement actions by the EEOC – I wonder if their employees get the same reaction when asked what they do?

This recent example is the story of Kevin Morrison, born in Jamaica, living in Maryland, who had been working, on occasion, for various companies like Good Humor and Ashley Furniture as a temporary worker through Ranstead.

Morrison could not read or write and was; therefore, denied an assignment at Lenox. Ranstead required him to have basic remedial reading and writing skills for future assignments. Morrison filed a discrimination charge claiming failure to hire on the basis of his Jamaican national origin. Ranstead responded that the positions virtually all require minimal literacy and it had "an unwritten literacy requirement."

Two years later while the largely dormant EEOC investigation persisted, Morrison amended his charge to claim a protected learning disability. Ranstead argued that a lack of learning was not a protected disability. The EEOC, however, decided to launch a full investigation seeking volumes of paper about all possible jobs Morrison could have performed. Ranstead said it would take between $14,000 and $19,000 to respond to the EEOC document request. The court allowed the EEOC's fishing expedition despite the far-fetched allegation.

Ranstead and other employers can potentially avoid the expensive enforcement actions with written, job specific policies rather than relying on "unwritten requirements." If the EEOC decides to investigate and the response is unnecessarily expensive, the employer must show it would be burdensome in comparison to normal operation costs and would seriously disrupt business. While most people would likely agree that $19,000 to produce documents for an employee who could not read or write is disruptive, the government requires more.

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