A lawsuit out of Milwaukee about reasonable accommodations should give employers a pause to rethink how they view disabilities in the workplace. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission settled a lawsuit against Charter Communications, LLC, also known as Spectrum. Charter will pay $60,000 in monetary damages and provide other relief for denying a shift change to an employee who could not drive at night.
ADA accommodations for attendance policies
According to the lawsuit, the employee could not drive at night due to cataracts and night blindness. The employee requested a shift change to avoid driving at night. Charter granted the request for an earlier shift for one month, then denied the request for an extension. The employer stated that “assistance with your commute” is not required under the ADA. It is noted that the employee could do the job without accommodations, and Charter had an internal policy for work-schedule changes.
The EEOC alleges that the conduct violated the ADA. After an attempt was made to settle the case in pre-litigation conciliation, the EEOC filed a lawsuit. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin granted Charter summary judgment, because the employee did not need an accommodation to perform a job function. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed the lower court’s decision and remanded the case.
The takeaway for employers
Employers should be aware of their responsibilities when asked to provide reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities. The EEOC’s press release made this statement:
Amrith Kaur Aakre, director of the Chicago District Office, said, “The ADA requires employers to consult with employees who request help in connection with a disability, and to participate in an interactive process to find reasonable accommodations that enable employees with disabilities to do their jobs. In this case, Charter’s efforts fell short.”
As attendance was an essential job function, Charter should have helped find a solution that allowed the employee to do the job and get to and from work safely. Learn more about disability discrimination and get help for compliance with resources from the EEOC.
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.
