Wrongful disability discrimination in the workplace can be very harmful to employees. No employee should have to face such discrimination. Thus, it is very important for employers to make sure to act properly when it comes to making employment decisions (such as termination decisions) and to not engage in wrongful disability discrimination when making such decisions.

Recently, a settlement was reached in a disability discrimination case from California. The case involved a thrift store in California. The thrift store was accused of having committed unlawful disability discrimination against one of its employees.

The employee in question was a man with epilepsy. The man reportedly was hired to work as a stocker at the store. Reportedly, the man suffered three mild epileptic seizures in his first few weeks on the job. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) claimed that the thrift store then, using only its own judgment, deemed that the man's epilepsy made him a danger to himself and others as a stocker and fired him.

The EEOC alleged that the store's alleged conduct violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. The EEOC claimed that the store should have requested a fitness test or made a request for medical documentation on the man's ability to perform the job duties of the stocker position if it was concerned about the man's ability to safely perform his job duties, rather than relying only on its own judgment to make such a determination.

The EEOC brought a federal lawsuit against the thrift store in connection to these allegations. As we mentioned above, the thrift store recently settled this case. According to the Modesto Bee article which reported this story, as part of this settlement, the thrift store will make a monetary payment to the above-mentioned man.

Source: The Modesto Bee, "Modesto thrift store to pay $50K to settle disability lawsuit," J.N. Sbranti, Feb. 7, 2012