Employer, fired HIV-positive worker to settle EEOC bias case
Reprints
A packaging company has agreed to pay $125,000 to settle Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charges that it violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by firing a worker because he was HIV-positive.
Morristown, New Jersey-based Gregory Packaging Inc., a nationwide manufacturer and distributor of juice products to school districts and medical institutions, had hired the worker as a machine operator in February 2012 in its Newman, Georgia, facility, according to court papers.
It terminated him in August 2012 after learning of his HIV status from a co-worker, allegedly because of his “physical impairment,” in violation of the ADA, according to court papers.
The EEOC said in its statement, issued Friday, that he was fired “despite his good job performance and demonstrated ability to perform his job in a safe manner.”
“The company now acknowledges that the employee’s continued employment after he became HIV-positive did not pose a threat to the health or safety of him or others,” said Robert Dawkins, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Atlanta office, in a statement. “This is a positive step in eliminating the unjustified fears the ADA was designed to combat.”
The company’s attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.
Read Next
-
PAM Transport settles EEOC disability bias suit
An Arkansas trucking firm has been ordered to pay $477,399 in a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission disability discrimination lawsuit in which it was charged with subjecting its truck-driver workforce to overly broad medical inquires.
