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EEOC Sues Sam’s Club for Disability Discrimination

Federal Agency Charges Retailer With Firing Employee After Refusing to Accommodate Her Disabilities

01/17/2025

ATLANTA – Sam’s East, Inc. and Walmart Inc., which together operate a chain of warehouse club retail stores known as Sam’s Club, violated federal law when they refused to reasonably accommodate an employee’s disabilities and later fired her because of her disabilities, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, the longtime Sam’s Club employee sought to return to her associate position at its Douglasville, Georgia store in June 2022 following a medical leave of absence after an automobile accident. The accident left her with post-concussion syndrome, upper back pain, muscle spasms and chronic lower back pain. The employee sought minor, temporary adjustments to her duties as a reasonable accommodation for her disabilities.  

Shortly after returning to work and successfully performing one shift, the employee was informed by her supervisor that she could not work with restrictions and would instead need to take another leave of absence until she could work without any restrictions. As instructed, the employee sought additional leave, providing Sam’s Club with a date by which she would be capable of working without restriction. Sam’s Club then denied the employee’s requested leave and fired her. The store’s general manager told her Sam’s Club would not accommodate her injuries because they occurred outside of work.

Such alleged conduct violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits disability discrimination. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Sam’s East, Inc. and Walmart Inc., Case No. 1:25-CV-0222) in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.

“The ADA mandates the reasonable accommodation of disabilities, regardless of their cause,” said Marcus G. Keegan, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Atlanta District Office. “Sam’s Club had a duty to attempt to accommodate the employee’s disabilities when she sought to return to work with minimal restrictions, but it violated its duty when it declined to do so because of the source of her underlying injuries.”

Darrell Graham, district director of the Atlanta office, said, “Employees with disabilities have a right to work. The EEOC is committed to enforcing the ADA and ensuring that Americans with disabilities have equal access to employment.”

For more information on disability discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/disability-discrimination.

The EEOC’s Atlanta District Office has jurisdiction over Georgia and the counties of Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Beaufort, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, Georgetown, Hampton, Jasper and Williamsburg in South Carolina.

EEOC Sues FedEx for Disability Discrimination

Federal Lawsuit Says Worldwide Provider of Business Services Failed to Accommodate Disabled Dispatchers

01/16/2025

NEW YORK – Federal Express Corporation, doing business as FedEx Express, violated federal law when it failed to accommodate several dispatchers’ requests to continue working from home and demanded the dispatchers’ immediate return to its downtown Manhattan office, effectively forcing at least one into retirement, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, a successful 30-year career dispatcher for FedEx requested to continue teleworking as an accommodation for her disabilities which, among other limitations, substantially limited the employee’s ability to walk. The employee, and other disabled dispatchers, previously performed dispatcher duties remotely for nearly three years, from approximately April 2020 until February 2023.

FedEx denied continued telework based on an alleged operational need to have all its dispatchers work in the office and failed to engage with its disabled dispatchers to find alternative accommodations, according to the suit. 

Such alleged conduct violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits an employer from failing to reasonably accommodate an employee’s qualifying disability, absent undue hardship. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (EEOC v. Federal Express Corporation d/b/a FedEx Express, Civil Action No. 1:25-cv-00454) after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. The EEOC seeks relief designed to remedy and prevent discrimination based on disability.

“Allowing an employee to work at home can be a reasonable accommodation where the person’s disability prevents them from successfully performing the job on-site and the job, or parts of the job, can be performed at home without causing significant difficulty or expense,” said EEOC Regional Attorney Kimberly A. Cruz. “Before denying such accommodation requests, companies must sincerely evaluate whether the accommodations can be made, whether they would require significant difficulty or expense, and/or whether alternative accommodations exist.”

Andres F. Puerta, a trial attorney in the EEOC’s New York District Office, said, “The COVID-19 pandemic taught us many things, including that remote work can benefit employers without creating much of a detriment. There is no reason an employee who is successfully working remotely as an accommodation for a disability should be denied continued accommodation where no undue hardship exists.”  

For more information on disability discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/disability-discrimination.

The EEOC’s New York District Office is responsible for processing discrimination charges, administrative enforcement, and the conduct of agency litigation in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, northern New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont.

The EEOC advances opportunity in the workplace by enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. More information is available at www.eeoc.gov

Justice Department Finds State of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City and Oklahoma City Police Department Discriminate Against People with Behavioral Health Disabilities

Friday, January 3, 2025
Office of Public Affairs

Note: View Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke's remarks here.

The Justice Department announced today that it has reasonable cause to believe that the State of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City and Oklahoma City Police Department (OKCPD) discriminate against people with behavioral health disabilities. Specifically, the department finds that:

  • Oklahoma unnecessarily institutionalizes, or puts at serious risk of unnecessary institutionalization, adults with behavioral health disabilities in the Oklahoma County area, in violation of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA);
  • Oklahoma City and OKCPD engage in a pattern or practice of conduct that discriminates against people with behavioral health disabilities when providing emergency response services, in violation of Title II of the ADA and the pattern or practice provision of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994.

“People with behavioral health disabilities in the Oklahoma County area are not receiving the support they need,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Instead of accessing treatment in the community, they are institutionalized repeatedly. Further, when they call 911 for a behavioral health emergency, they get a response by armed police, even when there is no public safety issue identified. As a result, urgent mental health needs often go unaddressed and crisis situations are needlessly escalated, sometimes leading to avoidable use of force. We recognize that the state and the city are taking preliminary steps to improve access for and treatment of people with behavioral health disabilities. The Justice Department is committed to working collaboratively with Oklahoma and Oklahoma City so that they implement the right services and supports their communities need and institute a lasting remedial plan.” 

The department’s investigation of the State of Oklahoma found that thousands of people with behavioral health disabilities are admitted to psychiatric hospitals in the Oklahoma County area each year, and many have long or repeated stays. Many also have long-term stays in nursing or residential care facilities. Most would prefer to live in their communities, surrounded by friends and family, and to have the freedom to make their own choices about their lives. These individuals could live successfully in their communities if they received critical community-based services that are proven to help people with behavioral health disabilities avoid unnecessary admissions or unnecessarily lengthy stays in segregated institutional settings. But Oklahoma does not provide sufficient services to prevent unnecessary institutionalization. As a result, many people with behavioral health disabilities never receive treatment until they are in crisis, when they instead end up needlessly hospitalized or in contact with law enforcement. For many in the Oklahoma County area, OKCPD is the law enforcement agency they encounter.

The investigation also concluded that when a person calls 911 seeking assistance with a behavioral health issue, the city sends police as the sole responders in most cases. In many cases these calls for assistance could be more effectively resolved by a response by behavioral health professionals who can provide appropriate treatment, but the city rarely involves such professionals. Instead, armed OKCPD officers respond to situations involving behavioral health needs, often failing to help, escalating crises or even unnecessarily using force.

During the department’s investigation, both the state and city initiated improvements to their systems. The state continued to expand its crisis system and released an updated Olmstead plan, and the city announced plans to develop and provide a behavioral health response to 911 calls, and began to make improvements within OKCPD that will help address these violations.

The department will be conducting outreach to members of the Oklahoma community for input on remedies to address the department’s findings. People may also submit recommendations by calling (888) 473-3460 or emailing MentalHealth.Oklahoma@usdoj.gov.

Additional information about the Civil Rights Division is available at www.justice.gov/crt.