FedEx Express will pay $280,000 and furnish other relief to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced.
In the lawsuit, the EEOC charged that in February 2023, FedEx failed to accommodate several dispatchers’ requests to continue working from home and demanded the dispatchers’ return to its downtown Manhattan office, effectively forcing at least one into retirement. The employee, and other disabled dispatchers, previously performed dispatcher duties remotely and successfully for nearly three years. According to the suit, 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.
“This case serves as a reminder that employers should not take a blanket approach to telework accommodations and should take care to engage in individualized assessments,” said Kimberly A. Cruz, regional attorney for the EEOC’s New York District Office. “Changing the location where work is performed may fall under the ADA’s reasonable accommodation requirements, even if the employer does not allow other employees to telework.”
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits an employer from failing to reasonably accommodate an employee’s qualifying disability, absent undue hardship. The EEOC filed suit after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement.
In addition to monetary relief, the consent decree requires training for employees involved in reviewing requests for reasonable accommodations and for employees assigned to its Manhattan office; updates to its policies concerning accommodations for disabilities; and the posting of a notice in the workplace informing employees of the settlement and their rights under federal anti-discrimination law.
The decree also provides for a path to reinstatement for an aggrieved former dispatcher.
The EEOC’s New York District Office has jurisdiction over New York, northern New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
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