JEFFERSON CITY, MO (KMOX) – The Laclede Cab Company of St.Louis has been ordered by the Missouri Commission on Human Rights to pay $85,000 in damages  for not hiring a taxi driver because of his disability. 

The Complainant applied for a job with the taxi company but was sent away after disclosing that he had previously had a stroke. Even though the Complainant had been driving taxi cabs for several years after his stroke, the employer told him that it did not think its insurance company would cover him.

“The Commission found the defendant’s actions to be illegal and therefore ordered the appropriate remedies,” said Dr. Alisa Warren, Executive Director of the Missouri Department of Labor’s Commission on Human Rights (MCHR). 

 Warren stated,  “A company violates the law when it assumes that a person with a disability cannot perform a job. “Such stereotypes deny people with disabilities the chance to earn a living and it also deprives employers of capable and dedicated employees.”

 MCHR ordered the company to pay $50,000 in actual damages and $35,000 for violating the Complainant’s civil rights. MCHR also ordered the company to cease and desist from practicing this unlawful discrimination.

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