Saint Clare’s Health, a division of Prime Healthcare Services that operates two hospitals in Morris County, NJ, violated federal law when it refused to accommodate a new employee’s sudden disability by delaying her start date, and withdrew her job offer instead, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit.
According to the EEOC’s complaint, Taylor McKay, who was pregnant at the time, was hired by Saint Clare’s Health as an EMS dispatcher. She completed a background check, drug test, and health screening and was scheduled to start work. However, McKay was hospitalized and diagnosed with preeclampsia, a pregnancy complication affecting the circulatory system, causing high blood pressure and risk to internal organs. The EEOC said that five days before her start date, while in the hospital where she was induced into early labor due to her condition and was awaiting the birth of her son, McKay emailed Saint Clare’s human resource department about her diagnosis and induction and asked what steps she needed to take next. Within hours, she received a voicemail from Saint Clare’s withdrawing her offer of employment, even though she needed only the minor accommodation of delaying her start date by several weeks.
Such alleged conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which requires that employers engage with applicants and employees to provide reasonable accommodations for disabilities and prohibits employers from taking adverse action against qualified applicants and employees based on their disability.
