The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently announced that VibraLife of Katy, LLC, a rehabilitation and assisted living facility in Katy, Texas, will pay $80,000 to settle a disability discrimination and retaliation lawsuit.
The allegations are that VibraLife violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by demoting and terminating an employee with a sleep disorder after she requested a reasonable accommodation.
The employee was hired for a night shift position that required three 12-hour shifts per week. However, upon starting her job, she was informed that she would need to work an additional 12-hour shift every other week.
When she requested to limit her schedule to the original terms to accommodate her disability, she was demoted and then terminated.
In addition to the monetary settlement, VibraLife has agreed to revise its policies and practices to ensure reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities, provide annual ADA training to employees, and post a notice regarding the lawsuit if it resumes U.S. operations.
Commentary
According to the EEOC, employers must consider modified or part-time schedules as a form of reasonable accommodation. This could involve adjusting the start or end times of work, reducing the number of hours worked, or allowing for flexible scheduling. https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/enforcement-guidance-reasonable-accommodation-and-undue-hardship-under-ada#modified
Many employment lawsuits start with a simple conflict. The employee wants one thing, and management wants another.
In the above matter, one can gather that the complainant viewed the actions of the employer as a form scheduling "bait and switch". The complainant was recruited based on certain schedule, but when hired, the employer increased the amount of work time. This dispute led to an EEOC charge.
Below are best practices for managing requests for a reasonable accommodation for a disability:
- Follow your organization's policy, procedure, and standard for the intake and processing of all requests for accommodation related to disability status
- Do not question the employee's need for accommodation
- Immediately refer an employee's request for a reasonable accommodation to those authorized to manage the interactive process to discuss and determine the availability of a reasonable accommodation
- Keep lines of communication open with the employee who made the request
- Implement all accommodations determined by those authorized to engage in the interactive process
- Document whether the accommodation is allowing the employee to perform their job duties. If not, inform those authorized to conduct the interactive process.
