Hardee's To Pay $34,000 For Not Hiring Woman With Disfigured Face

[matcom]

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Hardee's has agreed to pay $34,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging that one of its restaurants repeatedly refused to hire an applicant because her face was disfigured.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the St. Louis-based fast-food chain, which is owned by CKE Restaurants Inc., submitted the proposed agreement Monday to U.S. District Court in Kansas City. Besides the money, the settlement also calls for the chain to apologize in writing and further train its managers and human resources employees.

The EEOC said the suit, also filed Monday, alleged that the job seeker applied more than once for entry-level work at the Hardee's in Oak Grove, near Independence, but was never hired. The suit said others with no better qualifications were given jobs while the applicant was not. The woman has Treacher Collins Syndrome, a birth defect that caused a malformed cranial bone structure, asymmetrical eye placement and the absence of ears.

CKE, based in Carpinteria, Calif., did not return calls for comment.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-hardees13.html