Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued a Maryland branch of telecommunications provider Verizon for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. The suit alleged that a management employee of Verizon Maryland, LLC, who suffered from hypertension, asked his manager if he could either move to a field position or an alternate management position that could accommodate his disability.
- Despite an opening for a field position, which the worker previously held, Verizon prevented him for competing for that role, the EEOC alleged; the worker’s manager told him that he would have to resign and reapply for the open position in six months.
- Not only did Verizon not provide the worker with accommodations in the meantime, but the employee was forced to resign due to medical necessity — and was not offered the chance to compete for vacant management positions.
Dive Insight:
Beyond terminating employment due to disability, employers also cannot create environments that force workers to quit due to their disability.
Additionally, as EEOC Regional Attorney Debra Lawrence said in a September 6 statement, “Inviting an employee to resign and then reapply for work six months later can never be a reasonable accommodation.”
HR experts have emphasized the necessity of collaboration when approaching disability accommodations. From a regional EEOC field director’s perspective, Verizon arguably refused to adopt that approach. “Employers must be flexible and work in a spirit of problem solving and cooperation when responding to ADA accommodation requests,” EEOC Baltimore Field Office Director Rosemarie Rhodes said in a statement.
The key issue is that even when an employer can’t accommodate a worker in their current role, management still needs to explore other options. “When an assignment is incompatible with an employee’s disability, other assignments must be considered,” Rhodes added.
