Texas Assisted Living Facility Fined for Firing Nurse With Sleep Disorder

VibraLife of Katy, LLC, a rehabilitation and assisted living facility in Katy, Texas, will pay $80,000 and furnish other relief to settle a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) disability discrimination and retaliation lawsuit, the federal agency announced today.

According to the lawsuit, VibraLife hired an employee with a sleep disorder for a night shift position. The job posting required the selected candidate to work 36 hours per week in three 12-hour shifts. Upon beginning her employment, the employee was notified that she would be required to work a fourth 12-hour shift every other week. The employee promptly requested an accommodation that her schedule be limited to the express terms of the job posting and offer to accommodate her disability. Shortly after receiving the employee’s request for a reasonable accommodation, the employee was demoted and then terminated.

Such alleged conduct violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits disability discrimination and retaliation against an employee with a disability. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. VibraLife of Katy, LLC, Civil Action No. 4:24-CV-02861) in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement via its conciliation process.

The court entered a consent decree on Oct. 29 to settle the suit. In addition to paying $80,000 in monetary relief, the three-year decree provides that VibraLife will revise its policies and practices to ensure it provides reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities, provide annual training on the ADA to employees and post a notice to employees regarding the lawsuit should it resume its U.S. operations.