Employers continue to shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to accommodating employees with disabilities. Large companies, like WalMart, are not immune from this ineptitude. In fact, because they are so decentralized, they are more apt to violate the law because it’s not possible to monitor everything management does on a store-by-store basis.
Latest case in point: The EEOC last week sued WalMart after a store in Carlsbad, N.M. refused an employee’s request for accomodation following her return from medical leave. The employee, who has cerebral palsy, showed the store manager a note from her doctor stating that she needed to take periodic breaks. However, according to the EEOC, he refused to return her to that job, and instead required her to produce a medical release with no restrictions.
“This skilled employee had decades of experience with customers who recognized and greeted her. She had a loyal customer base that also benefited the store. Not allowing her to return to her job or even discuss her temporary restrictions meant the loss of a loyal employee, and violated the federal law against disability discrimination,” said EEOC Supervisory Trial Attorney Toby Wosk Costas.
So now Wal Mart has an ADA suit on its hand, one that at least on the surface could have been easily avoided.
