Munster Medical Research Foundation, Inc., doing business as Community Hospital, agreed to pay $158,000, rehire a former registered nurse, and adopt policy changes to settle a lawsuit filed by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced. According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, Community Hospital refused to return the nurse to work after a workplace injury resulted in lifting restrictions. To maintain her employment, the employee pursued several jobs at Community Hospital she could have performed with her lifting restrictions. Community Hospital failed to reassign her to any vacant position for which she qualified. Community Hospital then terminated the employee because she could not return to her prior job and did not obtain another position with the hospital. The alleged conduct violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination against employees with disabilities and requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations, unless the accommodations would cause an undue hardship.
