Excerpt from: Fleet Owner (click for full article)
Interstate Distributor Co., a nationwide truckload carrier, will pay $4.85 million to settle a class disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on behalf of more than 200 former employees, the agency announced.
The EEOC’s suit said Interstate unlawfully fired hundreds of employees under the fleet’s leave policy. Under the challenged policy, if an Interstate employee needed more than 12 weeks of leave, the carrier automatically terminated them rather than determining if it would be reasonable to provide additional leave.
The EEOC also charged that Interstate violated federal law by refusing to make exceptions to its "no restrictions" policy. Under this policy, if an employee had restrictions, Interstate refused to allow them to return to work and failed to determine if there were reasonable accommodations that would allow the employee to return to work with restrictions.
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