The EEOC's lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas charges that Kroger terminated a self-service checkout attendant suffering from neuropathy after denying her access to an accommodation she had successfully used for three years. The employee's neuropathy limited her ability to walk and move, causing her feet to go numb if she was required to stand for extended periods.
According to the complaint, Kroger's new management stripped the employee of her walker accommodation without engaging in the required interactive process to determine whether the accommodation remained reasonable or if alternatives were available. "Kroger's new management failed to interact with the employee to determine if the previously granted accommodation was reasonable or if another was potentially available," the EEOC stated in its press release.
When management told the employee to seek leave—which she neither wanted nor needed—until she could return without accommodation, she was unable to provide medical documentation supporting a need for leave and was subsequently terminated. The EEOC seeks back pay, reinstatement or front pay, compensatory and punitive damages, plus injunctive relief requiring Kroger to implement policies governing reasonable accommodation requests.
The case highlights ongoing enforcement of ADA accommodation requirements, particularly around the interactive process employers must follow when employees request or already have disability accommodations. The lawsuit comes after the EEOC's conciliation process failed to reach a pre-litigation settlement with Kroger.
"Disability discrimination in the workplace, which includes failure to accommodate and discharge because of disability, will not be tolerated by the EEOC," said Rayford Irvin, director of the EEOC's Houston District Office. EEOC Senior Trial Attorney Claudia Molina added: "An employer, in consultation with an employee facing a disability, must consider whether an accommodation is reasonable. Revoking a previously granted reasonable accommodation can violate the ADA."
The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits employers from discriminating against employees because of their disabilities, including denying reasonable accommodations absent undue hardship and terminating workers because they need accommodations. The case underscores the requirement that employers engage in good-faith interactive processes when addressing accommodation requests.