Two employers entered into settlement agreements with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in February after the federal agency alleged the companies had violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. Both employers, the commission said, fired employees who were entitled to leave as accommodations for their disabilities.
The first involved Doneen King, an employee with the University of Maryland Faculty Physicians, Inc. She missed two weeks of work when she was hospitalized for her Crohn’s disease. When she requested an additional day of unpaid leave, she was fired.
The employer’s attendance policy violated ADA because it didn’t provide for exceptions for individuals with disabilities, EEOC alleged. The commission sued on her behalf and the two parties entered into a settlement agreement. The agreement requires the employer to pay King $92,000 and revise its policies to allow for reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities.
Another company, REDC Default Solutions, LLC will pay $50,000 to an employee in a similar situation. Terria Wiley had a stroke and took medical leave from work. She provided her employer with a doctor’s note indicating a specific date when she would be able to return to work. Instead of granting an extension of the leave, it fired her.
Refusing to grant a reasonable accommodation to an individual with a disability violates ADA, unless granting that accommodation would create an undue hardship for the employer, EEOC warned in a press release.
“It is not only a good business practice to provide reasonable and inexpensive accommodations that allow employees with disabilities to remain employed, it is required by federal law,” Spencer H. Lewis, Jr., an EEOC district director, said in a statement.