UPDATED: May 4, 2016 at 8:11 p.m.

A Food Services employee is suing Syracuse University, claiming it discriminated against him for having a learning disability.

Jose Dieffenbacher, a Liverpool resident, claims the university failed to provide “reasonable accommodations” while he was training and taking tests for a position at the energy system and sustainability management department (EMCO) at SU, according to the lawsuit.

The complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York on Tuesday. Prior to filing the lawsuit, Dieffenbacher submitted a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claiming SU violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Representatives from the EMCO could not immediately be reached for comment.

“The university has treated Mr. Dieffenbacher fairly. Further, the New York State Division of Human Rights found no probably cause to believe the university engaged in any discriminatory conduct,” said Kevin Quinn, SU’s senior vice president for public affairs, in an email. “The university will now respond to Mr. Dieffenbacher’s complaint in federal court.”

In January 2015, SU offered Dieffenbacher and two other people positions as monitoring and control operators at EMCO. After he accepted the position, SU then told them that only two of them would be allowed to stay in the position — one as a permanent employee and another as a “long-term temporary” employee, according to the lawsuit.

As the EMCO began narrowing down the pool of applicants, Dieffenbacher was told he would be taking three tests like the other two candidates. There was no indication that a series of tests would be given beforehand, according to the lawsuit.

When Dieffenbacher approached Habib Alamir, a supervisor at EMCO, and disclosed his learning disability, Alamir began referring him as a “distant third.” Dieffenbacher claims Alamir didn’t provide “reasonable accommodations” to succeed a two-month training and to prepare for the tests to secure the position, Dieffenbacher claims in the lawsuit.

Dieffenbacher initially took notes without accommodation, according to the lawsuit, but found it difficult to understand Alamir’s lectures and instruction.

On one occasion, Dieffenbacher claims he was humiliated in front of the other two candidates for expressing difficulty in understanding the instruction.

Preparing for a third test, Dieffenbacher sought an accommodation from Dana Butler, a leaves and disabilities accommodation coordinator at SU. Butler requested he use a “specialized pen” that would record Alamir’s lectures, according to the lawsuit.

Before Dieffenbacher brought up the pen, Alamir told Dieffenbacher about a past employee who required “‘a giant pen’” to record lectures and joked about the “ridiculous nature” of the pen, Dieffenbacher claims in the lawsuit.

“During said conversation, Alamir went so far as to actually say that ‘those types of people’ were not acceptable in his department; presumably referring to learning disabled people like Plaintiff,” the lawsuit states.

The third test was canceled and Dieffenbacher claims he was told no positions were available in the department.

However, when a position opened up a few weeks later and Dieffenbacher applied for the position, he claims his application was ignored.

“The effect of the practices complained of…has been to deprive Plaintiff of equal employment opportunities and otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee, because of his disability and to otherwise have subjected him to emotional distress and physical and mental impairments for which emotional distress damages are justified,” the lawsuit states.

James Hartt, Dieffenbacher’s attorney, was not immediately available for comment.

Published on May 4, 2016 at 1:33 pm

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