Company that fired 52-year worker pays EEOC $315,000 settlement
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An electric power systems provider that fired a 52-year employee who was diagnosed with cancer and sustained a broken hip will pay $315,000 to settle a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission discrimination lawsuit, the agency said Thursday.
The agency said the employee, a principal designer, sought to return to work after healing and provided numerous doctors notes indicating he was fit to return to his former position, which was mostly sedentary, but Chicago-based S&C Electric Co. fired him instead, following a “perfunctory” medical examination by an S&C-contracted doctor.
The lawsuit filed against the company in U.S. District Court in Chicago charged it with violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The EEOC said under the 18-month consent decree in the case, S&C will pay the $315,000 to the estate of the former employee, who died last year.
The company must maintain and provide the EEOC with records of each employee at its Chicago facility who is terminated after attempting to return to work following a medical leave of absence and makes a complaint to either the company or a government agency. It must also train its manager and employees about obligations under the ADA.
Chicago-based EEOC regional attorney Gregory Gochanour said in a statement, “Here, we had an employee who performed his job well for 52 years, fell on hard times, and when he was ready to return to the place where he had spent virtually his entire working life, he was turned away despite his qualifications.
“This resolution helped bring some justice to this employee and his family and will likely lead S&C and other employers to act with significantly more care when making determinations about returning disabled employees to work.”
The company’s attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.
