Job applicant requested screen reader with braille display and accessible training materials
An Ontario call centre has been ordered to pay $28,472 after refusing to hire a blind accessibility consultant without ever asking him how to solve the very accessibility challenges that led to his rejection.
In an Oct. 17, 2025 decision, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario found Convergys Canada failed in both its procedural and substantive duty to accommodate Erik Burggraaf, who had passed all screening stages for a customer service role but was denied employment due to concerns about software compatibility with screen-reading technology.
Vice-chair Romona Gananathan ruled the company's accommodation process fell short when it conducted internal testing of accessibility software but never consulted Burggraaf — despite his extensive background training organizations including federal government departments and the Canadian National Institute for the Blind on the exact technology in question.
The case arose after Burggraaf applied for a sales associate position at Convergys' Welland, Ont. location in August 2017. During his interview, he disclosed his blindness and requested a screen reader with braille display and accessible training materials.
Over the following weeks, Convergys' IT department tested several screen-reading programs including JAWS, NVDA, Thunder, and Serotek to determine compatibility with proprietary software used for their...
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