Settlement Agreement:
·Addams Tavern
·Youth Fitness & Fun, LLC
·Hardin County EMS
Value Village Sued by EEOC For Disability Discrimination
Two Peaches Group, LLC, d/b/a Value Village, a for-profit thrift store operating five locations in Atlanta, Ga., violated federal law when it failed to accommodate an employee's requests for accommodation due to her disabling medical condition and forced her to resign from her employment, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it recently filed.
According to the EEOC's suit, beginning in or around January 2016, Marjorie Clark, a stocker, requested that Value Village allow her to wear an oxygen backpack at work to treat her symptoms of COPD and emphysema. However, Value Village's management continuously denied her requests. Over time, Clark's symptoms continued to worsen, so she requested a transfer to a less strenuous position. Clark's request for a transfer was also denied. On June 5, 2017, Clark decided to resign from her position after being hospitalized, citing Value Village's denial of her accommodation requests had compromised her health.
Such alleged conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Two Peaches Group, LLC, d/b/a Value Village,Civil Action No. 1:18-CV-1916-WSD-JCF) in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division. The EEOC is seeking back pay, front pay, compensatory and punitive damages for Clark, as well as injunctive relief designed to prevent future discrimination.
"Employers have a legal duty to provide reasonable accommodations to people with disabilities that enable them to perform the essential functions of their job," said Antonette Sewell, regional attorney for the EEOC's Atlanta District Office. Value Village's refusal to accommodate Clark prevented her from continuing to do the job she had done for over eleven years and compromised her health."
United States: ADA Lawsuit Dismissed As Moot
Mondaq News Alerts
Last month, a federal district court in the Commonwealth of Virginia granted a motion to dismiss (based, in part, on mootness grounds), in a website accessibility lawsuit brought under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"). This ADA lawsuit was filed by Keith Carroll ("Plaintiff"), a resident of Virginia who is legally blind, against New People's Bank, Inc. ("NPB") in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia (1:17-cv-44).
This Is How You Reasonably Accommodate a Disabled Employee
Workforce Management
Ask yourself, have we done all that we could have done for this employee, or is there more we can do?
Employee protections against wrongful termination
San Francisco Examiner
Both the Americans with Disabilities Act and the California Family Rights Act offer protections, in differing ways, for an employee who is unable to attend work.
Much Ado About Something: Recent Appellate Court Decisions Limiting Leave as an Accommodation Are Indeed Significant but Employers Should Still Tread Carefully
The Employer Defense Report
Last fall, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals (Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin) handed down two decisions restricting the amount of leave employers must offer as an accommodation. (Severson v. Heartland Woodcraft, Inc. and Golden v. IHA). Management-side employment lawyers celebrated. Employers breathed a sigh of relief. The Seventh Circuit had finally given employers some much-needed certainty; a bright line, if you will. Relying on these decisions, employers in the Seventh Circuit saw little risk rejecting requests for leave extending beyond 4 weeks. Many employers, though, adopted a wait-and-see approach. The US Supreme Court might take up the issue and reverse the Seventh Circuit. To the surprise of many, the Supreme Court declined in April 2018 to weigh in on the issue. Severson (and Golden) thus remain the law of the land—in the Seventh Circuit. While these decisions are significant, employers must remain diligent when dealing with employees temporarily unable to do their jobs.