Texas Company to Pay $75K to Settle Disability Discrimination Suit

L-3 Communications, a large defense contractor with facilities in Texas, will pay $75,000 and furnish other relief to settle a federal disability discrimination lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), an engineer hired by L-3 Communications in 2008 was a successful employee for six years. After suffering two depressive episodes at work in late 2014 and went on medical leave. He was released to return to work by his physician after receiving treatment, but L-3 required the employee to submit to a fitness-for-duty exam before deciding whether he could return to his position. The psychologist who conducted the fitness-for-duty exam concluded that the employee could return to work, but instead L-3 ended his employment by giving him the option to resign or be fired.

The EEOC charged in its suit that L-3 violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by forcing the engineer, a qualified individual with a disability, to resign in lieu of termination. The EEOC filed its lawsuit (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, LP d/b/a L-3 Communications Mission Integration, Civil Action No.3:17-cv-00538-N) in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

The consent decree settling the suit, signed on June 10, 2019, by U.S. District Court Judge David Godbey, calls for L3 to provide monetary relief to the former engineer, as well as to conduct training on the ADA for employees in the department where he was working at the time of his forced resignation.

Source: EEOC