The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently touted a high-value settlement with a meat producer that allegedly denied accommodations to an employee during cancer treatment and then fired her. According to the EEOC, after a long-term employee told the company she needed intermittent leave for chemotherapy, she was referred to a third-party benefits administrator to apply for leave. The administrator did not approve it. The employee still took those cancer-related absences, and the employer in turn assessed attendance points against her, ultimately firing her for violating the company’s attendance policies. The EEOC brought a lawsuit against the employer, claiming disability discrimination. Ultimately, the employer settled the suit, agreeing to pay $230,000 and enter into a two-year consent decree to ensure effective policies and procedures regarding the processing of reasonable requests for accommodations under the ADA.
In announcing the settlement, Regional Attorney for the EEOC’s Charlotte District, Melinda Dugas, cautioned that “Employers that hire third-party benefits administrators must ensure that effective policies and procedures are in place to meet the employer’s statutory obligations under federal workplace discrimination laws.” Dugas went on to caution “an employer cannot delegate its responsibility for complying with the ADA.”
Employers should heed this cautionary tale. Third-party administrators can ease the administrative load, but they should never operate without employer oversight. And employers should take special care when applying attendance and leave policies to employees with known medical conditions or disabilities.
