The company that operates the IHG Army Hotel at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin will pay $60,000 to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit brought by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, PML Services, LLC, which does business as IHG Army Hotels on Fort McCoy, fired an employee with epilepsy after she experienced a seizure at home after work. The EEOC alleged that the employee, who had worked for the Fort McCoy hotel for several months, called her supervisor to ask for two days off from work to recover from the seizure. When she returned to work, the employee’s supervisor and the hotel’s manager fired the employee, citing the fact that her disability-related absences occurred within her probationary period. Such conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, which prohibits workplace discrimination on the basis of disability. The ADA prohibits disability discrimination at all stages of employment, including during an employee’s introductory or probationary period.
