A public hospital in Atlanta violated federal law by failing to accommodate its employee’s disability and then firing her because of her disability, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a recently filed lawsuit.
According to the EEOC’s suit, the employee requested approximately five weeks of leave from work due to a medical condition. The EEOC alleges that when the employee attempted to return from leave as scheduled, the hospital refused to accept her doctor’s release, and told her she had to get another release from her doctor. The hospital then discharged her, allegedly for violating a work rule, before she could return. The EEOC contends that this discharge was a pretext for disability discrimination.
Such conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which requires that employers provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities and prohibits discharging an employee because of a disability. The EEOC filed suit in US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement via its conciliation process. The EEOC is seeking back pay, compensatory, and punitive damages for the employee, as well as injunctive relief to prevent future discrimination.
“[The hospital] claims to have strictly applied a work rule instead of processing its employee’s request for leave as an accommodation under the ADA,” said Marcus G. Keegan, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Atlanta District Office. “Had [the hospital] simply accommodated its employee as the law requires, she would not have been fired and this situation would not have arisen.”
Darrell Graham, district director of the Atlanta office, said, “When an employee needs leave related to a medical condition, it often implicates the ADA. [The hospital] was required to consider its obligations under the ADA when applying its work policies but failed to do so in this case. When this happens, the EEOC can step in to protect employees’ rights.”
Compliance Perspective
Issue
An employer may not penalize an employee for using leave as a reasonable accommodation. Doing so would be a violation of the ADA because it would render the leave an ineffective accommodation; it also may constitute retaliation for use of a reasonable accommodation. The ADA requires that employers make exceptions to their policies, including leave policies, in order to provide a reasonable accommodation.
Discussion Points
- Review your policies and procedures on ADA, medical leave, and the prevention of discrimination and retaliation. Ensure that your state’s laws for discrimination and retaliation are included in the policies and procedures. Update as needed.
- Train human resources staff and facility leadership on ADA requirements, including reasonable accommodations. Document that these trainings occurred and file each signed document in the employee’s individual education file.
- Periodically audit to ensure that all employees who requested medical leave were not discriminated against and that your policies and procedures for ADA were followed. In addition, ensure that all staff are aware of how to report any concerns of discrimination or retaliation.
*This news alert has been prepared by Med-Net Concepts, LLC for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal advice.*
