Two New York City police officers who say they were forced to retire because they wore hearing aids have filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The former officers also contend that the department's policy forces those with hearing impairments to hide their condition, reports The New York Times.
The two men, Daniel Carione and Jim Phillips, say that because the NYPD doesn't routinely test officers for hearing, the ban does little to weed out officers with hearing loss.
NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said the department was not actively looking to see if officers have hearing aids. But he said if an officer says he needs a hearing aid and it indicated hearing loss "then that could lead to a disability retirement.''
Bias Complaint Filed Over NYPD Hearing Aid Ban
Copyright AP - Associated Press
