Cancer patient disability discrimination suit against Wal-Mart settles ...

Wal-Mart has agreed to settle a workplace discrimination lawsuit filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act as amended. The disability discrimination lawsuit involved issues of wrongful termination and the failure to accommodate a cancer patient who had worked for the retail giant.

The worker had worked for Wal-Mart for 12 years before the company summarily fired him, according to the lawsuit. The worker underwent cancer surgery during his tenure with the company. The effects of the cancer surgery left the man with weakness in his shoulder. However, after the procedure, the man returned to work and continued to perform his work as a forklift driver successfully.

Due to the weakness in his shoulder, however, the forklift driver approached management and asked that he not be required to cover a co-worker's 20-minute break. The co-worker was in the shipping department and the job in that department required manual lifting. Wal-Mart reportedly denied the employee's request for a reasonable accommodation for his medical condition, and fired the forklift driver.

A regional attorney with the Equal opportunity Employment Commission says, "There is a solid body of federal law that clearly obligates employers to provide an employee with a reasonable accommodation unless it poses an undue hardship."

In the Wal-Mart case, the company simply fired the forklift operator. The company had claimed that the forklift operator could not perform the essential functions of his job.

Because he requested that the company not require him to cover the break of a co-worker, in a different department, the disability discrimination lawsuit was filed against Wal-Mart for failing to provide the reasonable accommodation to the employee under the ADA as amended by the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act of 2008.

The company will pay damages and provide other relief in a settlement agreement entered into earlier this month.

Source: EEOC, "Wal-Mart to Pay $275,000 to Former Employee Fired after Cancer Surgery," Dec. 16, 2011

Source: http://www.employmentlawattorneypalmbeach.com/2011/12/cancer-patient-disability-discrimination-suit-against-wal-mart-settles.shtml

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