EEOC files lawsuit against pizza chain alleging violation of ADA

By Thomas Ricotta on October 8th, 2014 in Americans with Disability Act

In a recent post we wrote about some of the ways in which the Americans with Disabilities Act protects disabled individuals regarding employment matters. In that post we wrote that under the act an employer has to take steps to reasonably accommodate an employee’s disability. A lawsuit recently filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against a pizza chain with locations throughout the nation, including New York, alleges that an accommodation was not made.

The chain is accused of firing a worker with Down syndrome. With the assistance of an independently employed job coach, that worker had reportedly been successful at his job. Despite this, his job was allegedly terminated after an operating partner visited the store, and after seeing him with the job coach, ordered that he no longer be allowed to work there.

As a part of the lawsuit the disabled worker is seeking compensatory damages and back pay.

Though it is unclear, it is possible that the lawsuit will focus on whether the accommodation of having an independently employed job coach is reasonable for the pizza chain. If that is the case and the worker’s firing is deemed to be due to that, the lawsuit could be successful. Should the result be successful for the worker and he is awarded what is sought—compensatory damages and back pay–it would likely be of great assistance to him.

In any matter regarding employment, working with an employment lawyer can make the process easier.

Source: The Disability Scoop, “Suit Accuses Papa John’s Of Violating ADA,” Shaun Heasley, Sept. 30, 2014