EEOC Sues Ollie's Bargain Outlet Over Refusal to Hire Deaf Warehouse Applicant
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has filed a federal lawsuit accusing national discount retailer Ollie's Bargain Outlet, Inc. of disability discrimination, alleging the company refused to hire a profoundly deaf applicant at its distribution warehouse in Lancaster, Texas because of her disability.
According to the EEOC's lawsuit, announced on September 23, 2026, Ollie's declined to hire the applicant in May 2025 even though she had several years of experience working in warehouse roles with comparable duties. The agency also charged that Ollie's subjected the applicant to a physical qualification standard requiring workers in certain distribution warehouse positions to have the ability to hear — a requirement the EEOC says intentionally screens out, and tends to screen out, individuals who are deaf or hearing-impaired in violation of federal law.
The suit, U.S. EEOC v. Ollie's Bargain Outlet, Inc. (Case No. 3:26-cv-03222-B), was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, after the agency first attempted to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process. The EEOC's Dallas District Office has jurisdiction over a substantial part of Texas and parts of southern New Mexico.
Ronald L. Phillips, acting regional attorney for the EEOC's Dallas District, tied the case to the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act, noting that September 25 marks 18 years since its passage. "Those amendments to the ADA have produced progress in disability rights, but much more remains to be done," Phillips said in the agency's announcement. Travis Nicholson, director of the EEOC's Dallas District Office, said deaf and hearing-impaired workers "continue to face needless discriminatory barriers to full and equal participation in our nation's economy," adding that some employers rely on "stereotypes, myths and unfounded fears" rather than individualized information about workers' abilities.
The ADA, as amended, prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability and bars employers from using qualification standards that screen out or tend to screen out individuals with disabilities unless those standards are shown to be job-related for the particular position and consistent with business necessity. The EEOC is the sole federal agency authorized to investigate and litigate against private sector employers for violations of federal employment discrimination laws; for public sector employers it shares jurisdiction with the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division.
The filing adds to a series of EEOC disability cases centered on deaf and hard-of-hearing job applicants. The lawsuit will proceed through federal court in the Northern District of Texas, where the agency is seeking relief on the applicant's behalf.