Senior Living Community Refused to Accommodate Qualified Employee With a Disability, Federal Agency Charged
INDIANAPOLIS – Heart of CarDon, a Bloomington, Indiana-based senior living community, will pay $115,000 and furnish other relief to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.
According to the lawsuit, Heart of CarDon determined an employee could no longer perform the essential functions of her certified nursing assistant job due to lifting restrictions resulting from a work injury. Though the employee expressed interest in several jobs she could have performed without violating her lifting restrictions, Heart of CarDon refused to accommodate her by transferring her to a vacant position for which she was qualified.
Such alleged conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits employers from failing to consider reasonable accommodations for employees with a disability. The EEOC filed suit (Case No. 1:20-cv-00998-JRS-MJD) in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division) after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its voluntary conciliation process.
The 18-month consent decree settling the suit requires Heart of CarDon to pay $115,000 to the former employee. The decree also mandates the company assign a human resources manager to work with employees who can no longer perform their job duties because of a disability to evaluate transfer as a reasonable accommodation. The decree also requires training on the ADA, posting of notices regarding the settlement, and periodic reporting to the EEOC of accommodation requests received during the duration of the decree.
Kenneth Bird, regional attorney of the EEOC’s Indianapolis District Office, said, “This resolution reflects the EEOC’s commitment to ensuring qualified employees are provided the reasonable accommodations which they are entitled to receive under the ADA – including situations such as this, where the reasonable accommodation may be a transfer to a vacant position.”
For more information on disability discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/disability-discrimination.
The Indianapolis District Office of the EEOC oversees Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, and parts of Ohio.
The EEOC advances opportunity in the workplace by enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. More information is available at www.eeoc.gov.
