DALLAS (Legal Newsline) – Lowe's Home Centers LLC has agreed to pay $55,000 to settle a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) disability discrimination lawsuit claiming the company demoted one of its department managers because he had a spinal cord injury, which limited the use of one arm.
The settlement was announced Jan. 26.
In the suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, the EEOC claimed Lowes violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by refusing to accommodate a department manager. Due to his disability, the EEOC states the employee was unable to use power equipment that required two hands and instead would delegate the work to other associates under his supervision. According to the suit, Lowes was aware of his disability at the time of his promotion in 2008, however in 2015 the company told the employee it could no longer reasonably accommodate him and then demoted him, which resulted in a pay cut.
"It is important for companies like Lowe's to carefully make decisions regarding reasonable accommodations to ensure its employees with disabilities can perform their work successfully," supervisory trial attorney for the EEOC's Dallas District Office Suzanne Anderson said in a news release. "The early settlement of this litigation assures that this employee will continue serving as a productive member of the Lowe's team."
As part of the settlement, Lowes must also conduct ADA training for its employees, managers and human resource personnel at the Cleburne, Texas store.