Inventing fake job requirements is illegal

Kudos to tikva for raising the issue of the Watertown Public Library's posted position for a Circulation Supervisor (Wayback Machine link). Tikva brought the illegality of the posting to the attention of the Watertown Public Library on 24 April. As of tonight, 28 April, here's an excerpt from the posted job:

• Moderate physical effort required in carrying and shelving books, computers and other equipment and in performing other typical library functions
• Frequent standing, walking, bending, reaching, and climbing
• Ability to operate a keyboard at an efficient speed
• Frequently required to sit and talk or hear
• Must occasionally lift and/or move materials weighing up to 50 pounds
• Vision and hearing at or correctable to “normal ranges”

Now, I always get mad about ADA violations. But in this case, I'm not just my usual disabled jackass who's angry about ableism. I'm a disabled jackass who:

• has worked many a circ job, and knows exactly what is and isn't required for the job


• is deeply over-qualified for this job, which I could knock out of the park (not that they'd be willing to pay someone with an MLS for this position)


• could not, nonetheless, meet three of their six "Physical Requirements", even though two of them could be adapted with minimal adaptation and the third (listed as "occasionally") with a mild reshuffling of work requirements


• knows the ADA backwards and forwards, and is well aware of how blazingly illegal this posting is


• and, oh, has a recently bereaved kindly busybody of a mother who lives in Watertown and is a frequent patron of the Watertown Public Library. This is a woman threatened to sue her own condo association if they didn't build a wheelchair ramp. (Spoiler alert: they folded.)

So I think on this one I'm not going to write up a long angry Illegal Job Requirements 101. I'm going to call in the cavalry.

I'd duck if I were you, Watertown Public Library. Right now the cavalry hasn't got a whole lot of patience for anyone who makes life harder for people with disabilities.