The Jackson Sun Newspaper Agrees to Pay $150,000 to Settle Disability Discrimination Lawsuit
The Jackson Sun, a Gannet daily newspaper, has agreed to pay $150,000 to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
The EEOC
filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, Eastern Division, after attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its internal administrative process. The suit alleged that the Jackson Sun violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) when it fired an employee one week after his return from a medical leave of absence. The employee had sustained permanent spinal cord damage after undergoing back surgery.
The ADA requires that an employer provide a reasonable accommodation to an individual with a disability unless the employer demonstrates that the accommodation would pose an undue hardship. According to the EEOC, the Jackson Sun could have accommodated the employee with minimal effort and his termination was discriminatory.
Faye A. Williams, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Memphis District Office said that “This situation and lawsuit, like so many others, could easily have been averted if this company had simply made a good-faith effort at a reasonable accommodation.”
Under the terms of the settlement, the Jackson Sun will provide training on the ADA to all of its employees. The newspaper will also post a notice to its employees about the lawsuit that includes the EEOC’s contact information. The Jackson Sun has revised its serious leave/disability policy to clarify the process by which an employee should request an accommodation and will provide a report to the EEOC outlining any requests for an accommodation and the company’s response to that request.
Both federal and California laws protect employees from discrimination based on race, national origin, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), age, and disability.
If you believe you are the victim of discrimination in the workplace, please contact Khorrami, LLP for a confidential consultation.
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Most of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s emerging advice definitely is enjoying a good deal of emphasis. A lot of coming from content coverage is based mostly towards the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s public press issues yet, does not ever particularly share currently the impact on employers.
You really know, While I perceive that potential employees have commited bad choices and also served their time having said that though I have a few uniformly good individuals and a single job, should You provide the job to the applicant that rendered the felony or maybe to the individual that never before did a criminal offense? I are likely to wish to support the person that most lived away of trouble in the first place well over the individual that went criminal court.
This might function inside a tight working class market, regrettably, not at this point. Why should I take a tarnished employee once they have a lot of many other non-criminals so you can consider?