Groendyke Transport / McKenzie Property Management to Pay $65,000 to Settle EEOC Disability Lawsuit
The defendants in the EEOC’s case are Groendyke Transport, Inc., one of the largest tank truck carriers in the United States, headquartered in Enid, Oklahoma, and McKenzie Property Management (formerly known as McKenzie Tank Lines, Inc.), headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida. The EEOC said that Groendyke’s predecessor, McKenzie Tank Lines, failed to provide a reasonable accommodation and fired two long-term employees because of their disabilities.
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, it was McKenzie’s policy to terminate employees not able to return to work after exhausting the maximum 12 weeks of medical leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). One of the employees, who worked as a tractor trailer mechanic in Pensacola, Florida for 30 years, was denied additional leave of approximately three weeks after exhausting his FMLA leave and was dismissed. The other employee, who worked as a truck driver for 20 years in Houston, needed approximately one week of additional leave after his FMLA leave expired, but was fired instead.
Such alleged conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which protects employees from discrimination based on their disabilities and requires employers to provide a reasonable accommodation if it does not create an undue hardship.
Justice Department Resolves Lawsuits to Ensure Equal Access to Health Care for People with HIV
The Justice Department today announced that it has filed proposed consent decrees with two obstetrician-gynecologist (OB/GYN) doctors in Bakersfield, California. The consent decrees, which are subject to approval by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, resolve the department’s lawsuits against the doctors, Umaima Jamaluddin MD, and Chibuike Enyereibe Anucha MD, PC, under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The department sued Dr. Jamaluddin and Dr. Anucha alleging violations of the ADA based on their refusal to provide routine medical care to a patient because the patient has HIV. Title III of the ADA prohibits doctors and other health care providers from discriminating against people with disabilities, including HIV.
TrueBlue and PeopleReady to Pay $125,000 to Settle EEOC Disability Discrimination and Retaliation Suit
TrueBlue, Inc. and PeopleReady, Inc., labor sourcing companies with offices across the United States, will pay $125,000 and furnish significant equitable relief to resolve a federal disability discrimination suit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, the companies fired an employee because of her psychiatric disability. The employee, who worked at the Manassas, Virginia office of TrueBlue’s subsidiary, PeopleReady, was not permitted to return to work after being medically cleared to do so following a hospitalization for her disability. The suit further alleged that the companies terminated the employee because she required future intermittent leave for outpatient medical appointments.