It Is Illegal for Employers to Discriminate Against Employees with Disabilities

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a disability discrimination lawsuit against PACE Southeast Michigan, a company providing care for the elderly, which agreed to pay $170,000 in relief. According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, PACE maintained a policy that treated any employee unable to return to work following the expiration of Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave as having “voluntarily resigned,” resulting in termination. Two employees requested a brief leave extension of three weeks or less, supported by medical documentation, but PACE refused to consider the requests and instead fired them. Replacements for the employees were not hired until well after they could have returned to work. This conduct violated the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), which prohibits discrimination based on disability. See EEOC v. PACE Southeast Michigan, Case No. 2:24-cv-12424 (E.D. Mich.).​