BOSTON (AP) — A legally blind barber has been awarded $100,000 by a Massachusetts commission against discrimination after it says he was wrongly fired.
The Boston Herald reports (http://bit.ly/1ME3w82) Joel Nixon had been working for Tony’s Barber Shop in Norton for a year before his boss discovered his condition.
The 29-year-old has retinitis pigmentosa, a condition affecting his peripheral vision and making it hard for him to see at night, the Herald reports. He’s been declared legally blind by the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind.
Nixon says barber shop owner Tony Morales fired him in 2012 after he tripped a couple of times while in the shop.
The state awarded Nixon $75,000 in lost wages and $25,000 for emotional distress in a Friday decision.
Morales disputes Nixon’s account and plans to appeal.
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This story has been corrected to show Nixon is 29 years old, not 28.
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