Aspire Health Partners, a non-profit behavioral healthcare organization headquartered in Orlando, Florida, will pay $115,000 and furnish other relief to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit brought by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced. According to the EEOC’s suit, the employee worked for Aspire for over 20 years, during which she developed and oversaw Aspire’s Village House Program, a community-based prevention program for youth in Orange and Osceola Counties. In 2015, Aspire terminated the employee after she exhausted medical leave taken due to a workplace injury. The employee’s doctor cleared her to work without restrictions shortly thereafter, and, in August 2018, the employee applied for a position within Aspire’s Village House program. Hours before her interview, the former employee was notified that she was ineligible for rehire at Aspire due to medical records in her prior workers’ compensation file. Such alleged conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In addition to the $115,000 in damages, the two-and-a-half-year consent decree settling the suit requires Aspire to adopt and distribute an updated policy against disability discrimination; conduct training on disability discrimination for its human resources officials; and post a notice.
