TrueBlue Inc. (NYSE: TBI) and its PeopleReady division will pay $125,000 to resolve a federal disability discrimination suit filed by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency announced today.
The EEOC’s lawsuit alleged that an employee who worked at PeopleReady’s office in Manassas, Virginia was not permitted to return to work after being medically cleared to do so following a hospitalization for her disability, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The suit further alleged that the companies terminated the employee because she required future intermittent leave for outpatient medical appointments.
The EEOC filed the suit in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its voluntary administrative conciliation process.
In addition to providing the former employee $125,000 in monetary relief, the two-year consent decree settling the suit requires that the defendants implement an ADA reasonable accommodation policy, provide training on ADA compliance with an emphasis on reasonable accommodations, and provide periodic reports to the EEOC.
“Federal law clearly obligates employers to provide reasonable accommodations, including providing medical leave needed because of an employee’s disability, absent undue hardship – and there was no such hardship to the employer in this case,” said Mindy Weinstein, director of the EEOC’s Washington Field Office.