Social services provider to pay $309K to settle bias claim of worker with MS

An Illinois nonprofit social services provider has agreed to pay $309,000 to a former employee who suffers from multiple sclerosis to settle U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charges that it discriminated against her by failing to make reasonable accommodations.

The EEOC charged that when Pamela Perry was initially diagnosed in June 2002 with multiple sclerosis, which causes numbness, pain and tingling in her feet, East St. Louis, Illinois-based Comprehensive Behavioral Health Center of St. Clair County Inc. allowed her to wear athletic shoes for a few years.

But, the center, which provides emotional, rehabilitative, and social support services, later disciplined her for wearing the shoes, the EEOC said Monday in a statement.

In addition, it refused to make additional reasonable accommodations when Ms. Perry's symptoms worsened, the EEOC said in its statement.

The EEOC also said that two days after Ms. Perry wrote a letter to the center's management complaining about its refusal to accommodate her, she was laid off, and that the agency retaliated against her by refusing to hire her when she applied for a vacant position she had performed for a majority of her 23 years of employment.

“This settlement is an important reminder to employers of their obligation to reasonably accommodate employees with disabilities and to not retaliate against employees who request accommodations,” said James R. Neely, director of the EEOC's St. Louis District, in the statement.

The center's attorney, Michael L. Wagner, a founding partner with Clayborne Sabo & Wagner L.L.P. in Belleville, Illinois, said, “We're happy to put the matter behind us and move forward.”

In 2013, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago held that a terminated City of Indianapolis employee who suffers from multiple sclerosis could pursue her discrimination and retaliation claims against the city, in reversing a lower court ruling.