Global Payments Company Will Pay $65,000 To Settle Disability Discrimination Lawsuit

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently announced that a global payments processing company based in Columbus, GA, will pay $65,000 to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit. According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, a customer service representative with a disability worked for Total Systems Services from May through August of 2020. The employee worked at a call center and repeatedly requested remote work as a reasonable accommodation because of her high-risk status with respect to COVID-19. At the time, the employee’s call center co-workers were repeatedly testing positive for the virus, according to the EEOC.

According to the lawsuit, the employee presented a doctor’s note stating that remote work was necessary to avoid contracting the virus. Total Systems denied the employee’s reasonable accommodation request based on criteria that applied equally to all customer service representatives seeking to work remotely instead of engaging in an individualized assessment of the employee’s disability-related needs. This is required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

As a result of her increased risk of exposure to COVID-19, the employee went on medical leave. She again applied for remote work, and the company again denied her request. She was required to return to the facility even though many other employees in the department had transitioned to remote work. Total Systems continued to deny the employee’s reasonable accommodation request, and the employee was forced to resign in August 2020 to ensure her own safety, according to the EEOC.

This conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act which requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for disabled employees. The law exists so that no employee has to choose between their health and their profession.

Under the two-year decree resolving the lawsuit, Total Systems will pay $65,000 in monetary damages to the former employee. They will also implement an ADA compliance policy and distribute it to all their employees. They will further provide annual training to its U.S. managers and human resources personnel on the ADA, and allow the EEOC to monitor how it processes future ADA accommodation requests.

ADA lawsuits in Columbus, OH 

In the case mentioned above, the employee presented the employer with a doctor’s recommendation that she be allowed to work remotely to avoid contracting the COVID-19 virus. The employer denied her request even though other employees, ostensibly without such disabilities, were allowed to transition to remote work. In the face of other employees working remotely, and one employee who requested remote work being denied, the EEOC found ample cause to file suit against the employer for denying the employee’s reasonable accommodation request. It was well within the employer’s power to grant this request, and it did not cause undue hardship to the employer since other employees were already working remotely. Hence, the company violated the employee’s rights under the ADA.

Talk to a Dayton, OH Disability Discrimination Lawyer Today 

Kohl & Cook Law Firm, LLC represents the interests of employees who have been discriminated against in the workplace. Call our Columbus, OH employment lawyers today to schedule an appointment, and we can begin investigating your case right away.

Source:

eeoc.gov/newsroom/total-systems-services-pay-65000-disability-discrimination-lawsuit