Questions and Answers about Deafness and Hearing Impairments in the Workplace and the Americans with Disabilities Act

5. What may an employer do when it learns that an applicant has or had a hearing impairment after she has been offered a job but before she starts working?

When an applicant discloses after receiving a conditional job offer that she has or had a hearing impairment, an employer may ask the applicant additional questions, such as how long she has had the hearing impairment; what, if any, hearing the applicant has; what specific hearing limitations the individual experiences; and what, if any, reasonable accommodations the applicant may need to perform the job. The employer also may send the applicant for a follow-up hearing or medical examination or ask her to submit documentation from her doctor answering questions specifically designed to assess her ability to perform the job's functions safely. Permissible follow-up questions at this stage differ from those at the pre-offer stage when an employer may only ask an applicant who voluntarily discloses a disability or whose disability is obvious whether she needs an accommodation to perform the job and what type.

An employer may not withdraw an offer from an applicant with a hearing impairment if the applicant is able to perform the essential functions of a job, with or without reasonable accommodation, without posing a direct threat (that is, a significant risk of substantial harm) to the health or safety of himself or others that cannot be eliminated or reduced through reasonable accommodation. ("Reasonable accommodation" is discussed in Questions 9 through 14.  "Direct threat" is discussed in Question 15.)

Example 2: Lydia applies for a position as an aircraft mechanic. After receiving a job offer, she is given a physical examination. The examination reveals that she has a slight hearing loss in her left ear. Although Lydia worked as an aircraft mechanic in noisy environment with the same level of hearing while she was a member of the military, the employer is concerned that Lydia will pose a risk to herself or others because she will not be able to hear sounds that might alert her to dangers in the work area such as the presence of moving aircraft or other moving vehicles. The employer may not withdraw the job offer simply because it believes Lydia cannot work safely in a high-noise environment. It must determine whether Lydia's hearing impairment would result in a direct threat (that is, a significant risk of substantial harm to Lydia or to others in the workplace).  The employer may obtain additional information about Lydia's hearing impairment, including how her hearing impairment affected her past work experience, to make this determination.