Orlando-based Rural/Metro Corporation of Florida, doing business as American Medical Response, Rural/Metro Corporation, and Lifefleet Southeast, Inc., who provide emergency medical services (EMS), have agreed to pay $55,000 to settle a pregnancy and disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced. According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, the defendant companies violated federal law when they refused to provide a pregnant emergency medical technician with a pregnancy-related disability with a reasonable accommodation such as light duty, even though such accommodations were provided to other employees similar in their ability or inability to work.
The three-year consent decree resolving the EEOC’s lawsuit has been approved by the federal court. In addition to paying the $55,000 in monetary relief, the defendant companies will adopt a policy making pregnant employees who are unable to work at their position due to medical restrictions based on their pregnancy eligible for a light duty position at the Orlando facility. The companies will also provide training on Title VII and the ADA to human resources personnel, managers and employees, and report to the EEOC on future complaints of sex or disability discrimination. In addition, the EEOC can conduct interviews of the defendants’ employees and request documents to ensure compliance with the decree.
