An employer’s attendance policy violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) because it was too rigid, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has alleged in a lawsuit.
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Wayne Farms, LLC, one of the nation’s largest poultry producers, capped the number of allowable employee absences and “made little to no allowance for disability-related absences,” the commission said in a statement announcing the suit.
The employer’s policy required progressive attendance point accumulation for nonmanagerial employees, according to the EEOC’s claim. Employees were allowed nine absences in a rolling 12-month period; a tenth point meant automatic termination. The policy called for exceptions only if an absence was approved for Family and Medical Leave Act leave or was granted for vacation, jury duty, or other similar reasons.