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Man says he was denied job because of life-saving service dog

6 years 3 months 1 week ago Monday, December 18 2017 Dec 18, 2017 December 18, 2017 7:26 PM December 18, 2017 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE - A man with a service animal says he was told he wouldn't be getting a job because of his dog.

David George is a diabetic and has lived with a service animal for three years. The trained and certified service dog named Pischouette alerts George if his blood sugar is too low or too high. George says that shouldn't prevent him from getting a job interview.

"She goes everywhere with me," he said. "She would protect me, she would die for me, I'm the same way."

So it's only natural for George to take Pischouette with him to a job interview like he did last week.

The job, a full-time position at MSI Inventory. What happened there has happened before and it's why George recorded the conversation. He tells 2 On Your Side when he walked into MSI Inventory on Sherwood Forest, a hiring manager inquired about his service dog and said the job is no place for a dog.

"We travel and we couldn't take a dog on the road with us," said the manager. "We travel every day to the job site."

George said the dog travels with him all the time.

"But, we can't, as the manager I'm not comfortable with traveling with an animal like I don't deal with animals at all," said the manager.

"I asked her, I said, 'Does this mean I'm not going to get an interview?' And she started saying, 'Yeah we'll give you an interview, but...'" said George. "I asked you a question you don't have to give me a million different reasons why."

"We don't have animals traveling with us," said the manager.

MSI Inventory Operations Manager Greg Lambert tells 2 On Your Side he was made aware of the issue at the Baton Rouge office and says, "Our local manager misinformed the applicant. That is not our policy. MSI Inventory Service does not discriminate against anyone. We have re-educated our local manager on our policy."

George says he's qualified for the job and that his disability should not stand in the way of him working.

"A disability doesn't make a person, a person makes a person," said George.

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers must provide reasonable accommodation to employees with disabilities. That reasonable accommodation could be a service animal.


    

      

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