The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a lawsuit against Sony Electronics Corp. and staffing agency Staffmark Investment L.L.C. for allegedly terminating a woman with a prosthetic leg because of her disability, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The EEOC said in a statement Tuesday that Dorothy Shanks had been sent to a temporary job for Sony at the Romeoville, Ill., facility operated by Brentwood, Tenn.-based Ozburn Hessey Logistics L.L.C., where Sony products are packaged and inspected. Ms. Shanks' supervisors were all Sony employees.

The EEOC said in its statement that Ms. Shanks was told on her second day on the Sony job by a Staffmark employee that she was being removed from her assignment “because they did not want anyone bumping into her” and that Staffmark would find her another assignment where she could sit. But Staffmark never sent Ms. Shanks to work on any other job assignment, even though she repeatedly called the firm seeking work, the EEOC said.

The EEOC's law suit was filed in federal district court in Chicago.

John P. Rowe, the EEOC's district director in Chicago, said in a statement: “The ADA requires that individuals with disabilities be judged on their ability to perform the essential functions of the job, with or without a reasonable accommodation.

“Ms. Shanks performed her job with no difficulty, but was fired because of unjustified fears about her having a prosthetic leg. Firing employees because of baseless fears and stereotypes about their disabilities is illegal, and the EEOC will defend the victims of such unlawful conduct.”

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John Hendrickson, the EEOC's regional attorney in Chicago, said: “Staffing agencies cannot avoid liability for discrimination by saying they were just following an employer-client's orders, nor can employers avoid liability by saying the victim was “really employed” by their staffing agency.

“It's a pretty good bet that a worker with a prosthetic leg is always going to be protected by the ADA, and an equally good bet that flat-out firing the worker for that reason is going to violate the law. This scenario should not be all that difficult for employers to avoid. If they don't, the EEOC will be there to make things right.”

A Sony spokesman said the company does not comment on pending litigation, while a Staffmark spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.