Each month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) files lawsuits and settles cases covering the federal laws they are responsible for enforcing. These federal laws include:
Below is a list of lawsuits and settlements by the EEOC in from December 16 to 31, 2024.
EEOC Lawsuits
Florida: EEOC Sues Elon Property Management for Disability Discrimination in Florida
Disability discrimination; Reasonable accommodation
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
According to the lawsuit, Elon retaliated against a district manager for taking a medical leave of absence by placing her on a performance improvement plan the day she returned from leave and punishing her for the decline in occupancy rates of her properties that occurred while she was on leave. Additionally, the EEOC alleges that Elon screens out and discriminates against workers with disabilities by prohibiting employees from returning from a medical leave of absence without a full-duty release note from their physician and a physician-signed copy of their job description. Together, these practices prohibit employees from returning to work if they need an accommodation, the EEOC says.
North Carolina: EEOC Sues Rex Healthcare, Inc. for Religious Discrimination
Religious discrimination; Reasonable accommodation
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, in 2021 Rex Healthcare implemented a policy mandating that all employees receive a COVID-19 vaccination unless they were granted an exemption because of their religious beliefs or a disability. The charging party in the EEOC’s suit, who worked remotely, requested a religious exemption in accordance with the policy. Even though the employee had previously been granted an exemption from being required to take the flu vaccination based on her religious beliefs, the request for an exemption from the COVID-19 vaccination was denied.
The employee submitted multiple follow up requests with additional explanations of her religious beliefs in support of her request. Despite the employee articulating a sincerely held religious belief, Rex Healthcare denied the employee’s accommodation requests and subsequently fired her for failing to comply with the company’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Virginia: EEOC sues ChowCall for Breaching Conciliation Agreement
Disability discrimination; Reasonable accommodation
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
According to the EEOC, Value Unlimited participated in an EEOC conciliation in September 2022, which is a process to resolve discrimination charges informally before litigation. At conciliation, the EEOC and Value Unlimited entered into an agreement to resolve a disability discrimination charge requiring the company to pay $11,000 to a former employee in three installments, train employees, and to post a notice about the agreement. The company failed to make the last installment payment of $7,000 to the employee and failed to report posting the agreement notice.
Washington: EEOC Sues Equinox Holdings, Inc. for Disability and Sex Discrimination
Disability discrimination; Reasonable accommodation; Sex discrimination
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII)
According to the EEOC’s suit, the aggrieved applicant, who previously worked in similar positions for other gyms, asked for her second-round interview to be delayed by a few days because she experiences painful menstrual cramps and was anticipating being in that situation imminently. Equinox never scheduled her second-round interview. Instead, it rejected the applicant, the EEOC charges. The Equinox manager with whom she had her initial interview told her in a text message that she was passed over for the position because there was a concern that she would be absent in the future “due to [her] monthly cycle.” The EEOC also alleged Equinox subsequently hired a male applicant with no prior experience working in gyms for the front desk associate position.
EEOC Settlements
Alabama: Shelby Baptist Medical Center to Pay $60,000 in EEOC Disability Discrimination and Retaliation Suit
Disability discrimination; Reasonable accommodation
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)
According to the lawsuit, Shelby Baptist illegally discriminated against a behavioral health technician with degenerative disc disease, which impaired her ability to perform her existing job functions. The technician requested reassignment to a vacant position for which she was qualified. Instead of accommodating her through a reassignment, the hospital denied the accommodation and fired the technician in retaliation for requesting it.
California: BayMark Health Services to Pay $55,000 in EEOC Disability Discrimination Charge
Disability discrimination; Reasonable accommodation
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)
According to the EEOC, a counselor at MedMark’s treatment center in Vallejo, California, requested disability accommodations to return to work after an extended medical leave. The EEOC’s investigation found the company denied his accommodation request and terminated him due to his disability.
Georgia: Lubin Logistics to Pay $20,000 and Provide Remedial Measures in EEOC Disability Discrimination Lawsuit
Disability discrimination; Reasonable accommodation; Retaliation
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)
The EEOC’s lawsuit charged Lubin Logistics with firing a delivery driver because of his lupus, an autoimmune disease that can cause pain and inflammation throughout the body. Approximately two weeks after being hired, the employee experienced a flare-up after being assigned to a delivery truck without a working door, working heating system, or functional passenger seat. The employee requested and received permission to return to the delivery terminal prior to the end of his shift because of his disability. Several days later, a company supervisor told the employee that he could no longer work for Lubin Logistics because of his medical condition and fired him, the EEOC said.
New Mexico: Bell Road Tire to Pay $64,500 in EEOC Disability Discrimination Resolution
Disability discrimination; Reasonable accommodation
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)
An investigation by the EEOC’s Albuquerque Area Office found reasonable cause to believe that Bell Road Tire and Auto violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by enforcing a 100% return-to-work policy, failing to engage in an interactive process for reasonable accommodation, and retaliating against the charging party. The investigation also revealed the company failed to maintain the charging party’s medical records separately from their personnel file, violating ADA recordkeeping obligations.
Texas: Castle Hills Master Association to Pay $55,000 in EEOC Disability Discrimination Suit
Disability discrimination; Pregnancy discrimination; Reasonable accommodation
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)
According to the suit, the companies terminated a pregnant resident coordinator who was diagnosed with placenta previa, a pregnancy-related disability. After the employee was hospitalized and prescribed bedrest, she requested a leave of absence for the remaining month of her pregnancy as a reasonable accommodation, but the property management companies then terminated her employment. At the time of the termination, the defendants told the employee that, because she was not eligible for leave under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) or short-term disability benefits, they would not accommodate her.
