When it filed suit earlier this year, the EEOC issued a press release which stated: “Once again, an employer involved in the health care field has impermissibly allowed fear and bias to enter into the hiring process. The ADA clearly prohibits covered employers, including those staffing health care positions, from refusing to hire someone based on disability.”
We could have said that – but hey, we always say that! We refer to EEOC suits such as this, for those unfamiliar with our blog, as the EEOC going after “low hanging fruit” or “shooting fish in a barrel” (see our prior posts).
The suit alleged that a Pittsburgh-based nationwide staffing service for nurses and other health care professionals refused to hire someone who already received an offer contingent upon completion of a health status certification. The certification showed his HIV-positive status and his offer was withdrawn. He was cleared to work, though, in a position of sitting with patients at a VA medical facility.
The EEOC has now trumpeted that it has settled this case – with the staffing company having to pay $75,000.
We said recently appropos another such case that “the EEOC seems to be saying that it will ‘challenge’ health care facilities in particular for acting as if they are above the law or feeling invulnerable simply because they ‘do good work.’”
Our takeaway today (and always): (1) the EEOC is gunning for health care and medical facilities which may have violated the ADA (the “Americans With Disabilities Act”); (2) staffing companies also seem to be in the EEOC’s cross-hairs; and (3) don’t violate the ADA!