BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced that New York Beer Project (NYBP) will pay $225,000 to two former bartenders to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit.
According to the EEOC, New York Beer Project refused to let two bartenders return to work after it was notified of their medical conditions. One bartender shared his cancer diagnosis and was left off the schedule for months before learning he had been fired. The other bartender shared that he had seizures but was cleared by his physician to return to work, and he was also left off the schedule for weeks before he was terminated.
The EEOC said neither bartender required or requested accommodations and both were ready and able to work.
“Employers cannot prevent qualified employees from working based on stereotypical beliefs about their medical conditions. It is important for employers to educate and train managers and supervisors so that decisions based on improper assumptions can be avoided.”
The EEOC said the actions taken by NYBP violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and it filed the lawsuit after attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.
In addition to paying the two former bartenders, New York Beer Project is also required to create anti-discrimination policies and complaint procedures, train its employees in all aspects of the ADA, and retain an ADA coordinator to review requests for reasonable accommodation and administer New York Beer Project’s policies.
