Company Should Provide Reasonable Time Off Work For Surgery to treat Disability

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently settled a disability discrimination lawsuit it had filed against Vallen Distribution Inc., which is a company that provides industrial supplies.  The EEOC alleged that Vallen discriminated against one of its delivery drivers because he suffered from prostate cancer and requested a period of leave for his treatment and time to recover.  Instead of giving the employee time to recover, Vallen fired him the day before his surgery.  The alleged conduct is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires that employers grant reasonable accommodations for an employee’s disability and prohibits discrimination on the basis of a disability.  See EEOC v. Vallen Distribution, Inc., No. 1:18-cv-00146 (S.D. Ga.).