The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, centers on events at the company’s Forest Park, Georgia warehouses in January 2023. The employee, who worked for Exel through a staffing company, has sickle cell disorder, a condition that can be triggered by extreme cold.
When a new supervisor assigned the employee to work exclusively in a cooler area, she requested an accommodation to either limit her time in the cold environment or be assigned to two other available positions that did not require entering the cooler. The complaint notes that she had previously worked successfully in those non-cooler assignments for most of her employment with Exel.
According to the EEOC’s suit, the company denied the request, stating it does not accommodate medical restrictions. Shortly after denying the accommodation, Exel discharged the employee. The suit further alleges that Exel later hired all other temporary employees for full-time positions except for the former employee, effectively denying her permanent employment opportunities due to her disability.
“Federal law requires that employers accommodate disabled employees when it is not an undue hardship to do so,” said Marcus G. Keegan, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Atlanta District Office. “In this case, Exel could have easily assigned the employee to work in the other roles that did not require going into the cooler or limited her time working in the cooler.”
Darrell E. Graham, district director of the EEOC’s Atlanta District Office, emphasized that “employers cannot adopt blanket policies refusing to accommodate restrictions” and noted that “the facts in this case make clear that accommodation was possible.”
The EEOC filed the lawsuit, *EEOC v. Exel Inc, d/b/a DHL Supply Chain (USA)*, Case No. 1:26-cv-01720, after attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. The agency is seeking back pay, front pay, compensatory damages, and punitive damages, as well as injunctive relief to prevent future discrimination.