Quadriplegic Not Hired Due to Lack of Fingerprints

posted on Jun 24 by Jessica in the Disability Discrimination, Disability Law, Disability News, Spinal Cord Injury category

Ryan Grimes has been in a wheelchair since becoming quadriplegic at the age of 18, when he broke his neck. While living in Indiana, Grimes applied for a job at Citibank in Tampa, Florida, which was advertised on the internet by a staffing agency. The staffing agency went over his resume and felt he was a good fit for the position. He was asked to take a few tests, and he did well overall. In order to be considered for the position, Grimes was told he would have to relocate to Tampa, which he did.

“Good paying jobs are hard to come by,” explained Grimes.

He was invited for a personal interview, and then offered the position. When he attended the orientation, he was told he would have to have a fingerprint background check. Grimes advised his new employer prior to being fingerprinted that due to a neck injury 12 years earlier and resulting quadriplegia, his finger prints had faded away to smooth skin. He says the folks at Citibank told him to just get it done and they would deal with it from there.

Grimes passed the online tests, drug test, and a personal interview, was given a start date, and was even informed that accommodations would be made for his wheel chair. Before he could begin work, however, he was rejected for the job, because his fingerprints could not be read, despite having informed the company of his condition at orientation. That’s when Grimes decided it was time to contact a local investigative news reporter, who in turn contacted Citibank officials.

Citibank later issued this statement: “Citi complies with the letter and spirit of the American Disabilities Act and we expect our vendors and agents to as well. Any communication to Mr. Grimes that his offer was being withdrawn based on his inability to provide fingerprints was made in error. We corrected this error as soon as we became aware of it and his offer with the staffing agency has been reinstated.”

Thanks to the help of an investigative reporter and his own tenacious spirit, Ryan Grimes has been successfully able to return to work.

Source: http://www.wtsp.com/news/topstories/article/195063/250/Fingerprint-fiasco-costs-quadriplegic-a-job