When it came to accommodating employees’ disabilities, these two companies failed miserably.

Bipolar disorder meds? Not gonna fly

Chassity Brady, who had bipolar disorder, worked as a quality control lab technician at the Dayton Superior Corporation.

One day at work in 2011, she suffered an adverse reaction to the medication she’d been put on for the bipolar disorder. The company then required her to submit to a drug test.

The test results showed that the only substances Brady had in her body were the medications prescribed to treat her disability.

But the company decided to fire her anyway.

Big mistake.

Brady went to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which sued the company on her behalf, claiming that the firm discriminated against her based on her disability.

The company opted to settle, agreeing to pay $50,000 as well as “provisions for equal employment opportunity training, reporting and postings.”

Takeaway: Assuming that someone who’s taking medication for a mental illness can’t do his or her job well is a surefire way to get in trouble with the EEOC.

Heart attack = termination

The second case involves a property manager at an apartment complex in August, GA.

One day on the job, the manager suffered a heart attack. The very same day, the apartment complex owners began advertising for the manager’s position.

Worst of all: The EEOC said that when the manager attempted to return to work, she found out she had been fired, according to the agency.

Same deal as the first case: The manager went to the EEOC, which filed a disability bias suit on her behalf.

The apartment complex decided to settle the case for $37,000.

The lesson’s clear: Yes, this employee had a heart attack on the job. But immediately believing that she couldn’t return to work is not the response the feds are looking for from companies.

The post 2 woefully inappropriate responses to staffers with disabilities appeared first on HR Morning.

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