Piedmont Cheerwine Bottling Co. allegedly violated the People with Disabilities Act when it required an worker with a number of sclerosis to undergo a medical examination and fired her after receiving the outcomes, the U.S. Equal Employment Alternative Fee claimed in a Sept. 8 lawsuit.
Per the criticism in EEOC v. Piedmont Cheerwine Bottling Co., the worker was a retailer merchandiser at Cheerwine’s tender drink manufacturing and distribution facility in Colfax, North Carolina. She walked with a limp on account of MS medicine that had brought on deterioration in her hip cartilage, the criticism stated.
Six weeks into the job, she was required to take a bodily agility take a look at, making her the one new rent to endure the take a look at earlier than the top of a 90-day probationary interval, EEOC alleged. Check outcomes indicated she met all 4 job-specific necessities, however famous she had decreased energy in her hip, gait abnormalities and issue squatting.
Following the take a look at, Cheerwine positioned the worker on unpaid depart and fired her the identical day, in line with the criticism. The following day, she supplied a health care provider’s be aware clearing her for work, however Cheerwine allegedly rejected the be aware and instructed her she’d been terminated.
EEOC sued Cheerwine, alleging it fired her due to her incapacity or as a result of it regarded her as disabled, in violation of the ADA. EEOC additionally alleged the bodily agility take a look at amounted to an impermissible medical examination underneath the ADA. Cheerwine didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Underneath the ADA, an employer can require a present worker to undergo a medical examination provided that the examination is job-related and according to enterprise necessity, an EEOC steering states.
Bodily agility assessments, which measure an worker’s capability to carry out precise or simulated job duties, are usually not thought of medical exams, in line with the steering. However they will exceed their scope in the event that they embrace medical assessments, resembling measuring blood stress or testing an worker’s vary of movement to find out muscle energy and motor operate, the steering explains.
Within the Cheerwine lawsuit, EEOC pointed to a number of components indicating the bodily agility take a look at was a guise for requiring the worker to endure an impermissible medical examination: The take a look at was allegedly designed to disclose bodily impairments, it passed off in a medical setting and it included measuring the worker’s blood stress and vary of movement.
The worker was additionally unlawfully requested about her hip, inflicting her to disclose disability-related details about her MS medicine and ensuing limp, EEOC alleged.
Employers can present a medical examination was job-related and according to enterprise necessity — and subsequently justified — by offering affordable, goal proof {that a} medical situation prevented the worker from performing important capabilities, in line with the steering.
Right here, nevertheless, the worker efficiently carried out her job in a means that met Cheerwine’s expectations and was by no means endorsed, reprimanded or disciplined for not assembly these expectations, EEOC alleged.
