Fabrication company to settle EEOC disability suit
Reprints
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Monday said a fabrication company will pay $250,000 to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit in which it was charged with firing a depressed worker.
The EEOC said Milner, Georgia-based Ranew’s Management Co. Inc., a national fabrication, coating and assembly products provider, told an employee who informed the company of his severe depression diagnosis to take as much time as he needed to get well, after the employee asked for three weeks off work, per his doctor’s recommendation, the agency said.
When he returned to work six weeks later, however, and presented a release to return to work from his doctor, the CEO said he could not trust the employee to perform his job duties and fired him instead, the EEOC said in his statement.
The agency charged the company with violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Under the consent decree resolving the lawsuit, in addition to paying $250,000 to the employee, the company agreed to report, monitor, train, create and distribute ADA policies and post notices, the EEOC said.
“The ADA makes it clear that employment decisions must be made based on employee qualifications rather than on stereotypes about an employee’s disability,” said Marcus G. Keegan, regional attorney for the EEOC's Atlanta district office, in the statement.
The company’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
Last week, a federal judge ruled against an employer’s efforts to dismiss a disability leave lawsuit filed by an immunocompromised man who wanted to continue working from home for fear of contracting COVID-19 at work.
Read Next
-
EEOC’s updated COVID tech assistance includes retaliation
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Wednesday it has updated its COVID-19 technical assistance to include more information about employer retaliation in pandemic-related employment situations.
