EEOC Settles Disability Discrimination Lawsuit

Grocery store Safeway, Inc. will reportedly pay $27,000 in damages, in addition to the employee getting her job back, to settle a lawsuit for disability discrimination brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.  The EEOC’s Complaint alleged that an employee at a Safeway suffered a work-related injury that inhibited her ability to lift.  Safeway accommodated the employee at first by allowing her to work at the customer service desk.  The store, however, later put her on indefinite unpaid leave, telling the employee that she had expended her time limits for modified duty.  The EEOC claimed that Safeway failed to provide a reasonable accommodation and unlawfully fired the employee due to her disability.  These types of alleged actions are barred by the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability.  Employers are required to provide employees with reasonable accommodations unless those accommodations would pose significant expense or undue hardship.  See EEOC v. Safeway Inc., No. 1:15-cv-02955 (D. Md.).