The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) continues its focus on challenging employment leave policies as discriminatory under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The “Voluntary Resignation” Policy
On September 13, 2024, the EEOC filed a complaint in the Eastern District of Michigan against a nursing home (EEOC v. Pace Southeast Michigan), asserting that the company’s policies and practices surrounding employee use of leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) are discriminatory against persons with disabilities. The EEOC describes the allegedly offending policy as a “voluntary resignation” policy that allows the employer to consider employees to have voluntarily resigned if they do not return to work at the end of their approved FMLA leave and to “automatically” deny requests for leave extension beyond the FMLA-provided 12-week period as reasonable accommodations under the ADA. The asserted violations of the ADA include failure to grant reasonable accommodations, intentional discrimination against persons with disabilities, and unlawful maintenance of practices having the effect of depriving equal employment opportunities because of disability. Although only two individuals are named in the complaint, the EEOC makes clear it is pursuing the case on behalf of other “similarly aggrieved” individuals as well. The EEOC seeks a permanent injunction against the employer, an order requiring the employer to change its policies and practices, compensation to allegedly aggrieved employees, and punitive damages.
Avoiding the EEOC’s Crosshairs
This new complaint is par for the course for EEOC. The agency continues to focus on leave policies as it has described in its systemic litigation priorities for the past several years. But it serves as a good reminder to employers to review their leave policies and practices to avoid ending up in the EEOC’s crosshairs for a pattern-or-practice case involving dozens, if not hundreds, of employees, multiplying compensatory and punitive damages exposure.
The EEOC’s position is that employers must do more than simply provide 12 weeks of FMLA to employees with medical conditions. Written policies regarding employee medical leave should make clear that reasonable accommodations are available and individual circumstances will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. The EEOC also expects that managers and human resources employees will be regularly trained on the interactive process to engage employees with regard to medical leave, accommodation requests, and potential accommodations available when employees take leave and seek to return to work.
Fox Rothschild’s Labor & Employment Attorneys continue to monitor the proceedings in this case and will provide relevant updates to keep employers up to date on these important issues.