Not this company’s first day at the old ADA rodeo
From the looks of things, this retail chain could use a review of its policies on how to treat workers with disabilities.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently filed suit against AutoZone, Inc., claiming the auto parts supplier violated federal law when it implemented a nationwide attendance policy that failed to accommodate certain disability-related absences.
According to the EEOC’s complaint, from 2009 until at least 2011, AutoZone assessed employees nationwide “points” for absences, without permitting any general exception for disability-related absences. Twelve points resulted in an employee’s termination.
As a result, qualified employees with disabilities with even modest numbers of disability-related absences were fired, the complaint alleges. This included, for example, an Ottawa, IL, employee with Type 2 diabetes who had to leave work early occasionally because of insulin reactions and who was fired because of the resulting attendance points.
The complaint also claims that another employee was discharged in retaliation for objecting to the attendance policy and filing a charge with the EEOC.
Is there a pattern emerging here?
Seems like a pretty run-of-the-mill lawsuit, right? It would be, except for one fact: This is the fourth disability discrimination case against AutoZone litigated by the EEOC in recent years.
In 2009, a consent decree was entered resolving an EEOC claim that AutoZone had failed to promote a visually impaired employee in Cottonwood, AZ, and denied him permission to use a guide dog. That decree awarded the employee $140,000 and required the company to conduct training about the ADA in all of its Arizona stores.
In another case, a central Illinois jury found in 2011 that the company refused to accommodate a sales manager’s disability by insisting that he mop floors, leading to further injury. That case resulted in a $424,000 judgment against AutoZone, which was affirmed on appeal.
In 2012, the agency filed a third disability suit against the company, charging that it refused to accommodate the lifting restriction of a disabled employee at its Cudahy, WI, store, and fired her instead. That action is still pending.
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