RALEIGH — A North Carolina rehabilitation and health care center has settled a lawsuit filed by the federal government, alleging the company discriminated against and then fired an employee due to her autoimmune disorder and rheumatoid arthritis.
According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Senior Care Properties Inc., doing business as Harborview Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center, denied an employee's accommodation request for four weeks of "light duty" until her insurance kicked in and she could purchase medication that helped her manage her condition. The company, instead ,placed the employee on unpaid leave for four weeks and then fired her for going past Harborview's two-week leave policy, in violation of the American's with Disabilities Act (ADA), the EEOC said.
"When an employee with a disability notifies his or her employer of the need for a light duty assignment or leave from work for reasons related to the disability, the employer must consider exceptions to light duty and leave policies as a reasonable accommodation," EEOC Charlotte District Office regional attorney Lynette Barnes said in a statement. "The ADA requires that employers provide such reasonable accommodation unless it would be an undue hardship to accommodate the employee, which in this case, it certainly would not have been."
According to the settlement, Harborview will pay $21,000 in damages and provide training to its employees regarding the ADA, the EEOC said.