August 29, 2024
EEOC Sues 3 Employers for ADA Violations
On August 29th, the EEOC filed a trio of lawsuits in three different industries in three different geographies to enforce the Americans with Disabilities Act. The charge? Failure to provide reasonable accommodation.
In the first claim was against a New York hotel. The EEOC asserts an employee provided a medical note indicating she had a knee condition that limited her standing or walking to no more than 30 minutes at a time. She needed to use a stool only while at the host stand performing clerical work and checking guests in. Otherwise, she was able to perform all the essential functions of her host job, including walking guests to their destination in the hotel. The hotel did not allow her to use a stool and fired her.
The second case is against a Baltimore manufacturer. An employee, who suffered from complete hearing loss in her left ear, asked for personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect her remaining hearing from manufacturing equipment noise in the area where she worked as a team lead. The employer responded by demoting her from the team lead position, resulting in reduced pay, and assigning her to a quieter area.
The reported strike number three was a bakery in Indiana. This employer reportedly refused to modify a policy to allow an employee to use a walker when moving more than 100 feet as required by her physician, making it impossible for the employee to access her workstation, restroom, and break room. Rather than providing the requested accommodation, the employer forced the employee to take leave and subsequently terminated her employment.
Last year, the EEOC received more than 29,000 charges of disability discrimination, a 25-year high. When can an employer properly decline an employee’s request for a reasonable accommodation without running afoul of the ADA? Join this month’s webcast, an “ADA Update.” Click here for more information.
