Illinois Manufacturer to Pay $275K to Settle Disability Discrimination Lawsuit

An Illinois industrial device manufacturer will pay $275,000 and furnish other relief to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit brought by federal officials.

In its lawsuit, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleged IDEC Corporation, unlawfully discriminated when it terminated an employee at its East Dundee, Ill., location due to the company’s perception that the employee had disabling impairments, including sleep apnea and a heart condition.

Such alleged conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits discrimination against employees with actual or perceived disabilities.

The EEOC filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago (EEOC v. IDEC Corp., Civil Action No. 18-cv-4168) in June 2018, after first attempting to reach a voluntary settlement through the EEOC’s pre-lawsuit conciliation process.

Under the two-and-a-half-year consent decree settling the suit, agreed to by the parties and entered by the court, IDEC will pay $275,000 to the former employee’s estate and attorney.

The decree further mandates that IDEC train its East Dundee employees on the ADA’s protections and report to the EEOC all future complaints of disability discrimination as well as requests by employees for workplace accommodation of disabilities that IDEC denies.

Source: EEOC