New York Beer Project, LLC, a brewery and restaurant with locations in New York and Florida, finds itself on the wrong side of a discrimination lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC contends the business violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) because it fired two employees with medical conditions based solely on their disability. Both employees were cleared to work, but the company disregarded doctor’s notes and relied on stereotypes that the two employees were a risk.
Employees terminated after revealing new medical diagnoses
The first employee revealed to New York Beer Project that he had been diagnosed with cancer. He was taken off the schedule and eventually terminated. The other employee also revealed a new medical diagnosis to the company. He had a nocturnal seizure. After he came back from leave, the doctors released him to work without restrictions. New York Beer Project did not put him back on the schedule. According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, the brewery was concerned he would have a seizure at work. They terminated his employment as well.
EEOC seeks redress for employees
The EEOC filed a lawsuit after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative process. In the lawsuit, the EEOC is asking for back pay and compensatory and punitive damages for the terminated employees. Most settlements of discrimination lawsuits also include injunctive relief to prevent future disability discrimination. Employers are not allowed to base hiring or firing decisions on “baseless fears and stereotypes.”
Yaw Gyebi, Jr., director of the EEOC’s New York District Office, said, “Employees should not live in fear that a new medical diagnosis or disability will subject them to termination of their employment.”
The EEOC enforces the ADA to prevent discrimination in the workplace. Employees and employers can more information about disability discrimination or to make a complaint on the EEOC’s website.
Dawn Brotherton is a Sr. Staff Writer at The American Genius with an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Central Oklahoma. She is an experienced business writer with over 10 years of experience in SEO and content creation. Since 2017, she has earned $60K+ in grant writing for a local community center, which assists disadvantaged adults in the area.
