No Retaliation Permitted

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently announced that it entered a consent decree in a disability discrimination and retaliation case.  The EEOC alleged than an electrician had filed a disability discrimination charge and then, in retaliation, the company sent details of the charge (including the employee’s name, union, and medical restrictions) in a letter to 146 members of his local union.  In a ruling on a Motion for Summary Judgment, the court found that a reasonable jury could find that the letter could have the effect of “intimidating the letter’s recipients with respect to communicating with the EEOC about possible disability discrimination . . . .”  Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits disability discrimination and retaliation for complaining about or filing a charge of disability discrimination.  See EEOC v. Day & Zimmermann NPS, Inc., No. 3:15-cv-1416 (D. Conn.).