Georgia Papa Johns Settles Disability Discrimination Lawsuit Filed by Blind Employee
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently settled a lawsuit against Papa Johns for denying a blind employee a reasonable accommodation. The pizza chain was required to pay the former employee $175,000 to settle the matter. According to the EEOC, a legally blind employee was fired from Papa Johns after the pizza chain allegedly denied a request to bring his service dog to the job site.
The lawsuit alleged that the employee was hired in Athens, Georgia in 2020. He told his employer that he was unable to start his job until the company reviewed his request to bring his service dog to work. The employee’s request was immediately denied, and he was terminated before working even a single shift.
The EEOC contended that Papa John’s actions directly violated the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Under the Act, service animals are considered a “reasonable accommodation” that employers are obligated to consent to. The Act requires that an employee make a formal request to their employer that the animal be present.
In many cases, the EEOC requires employers to sign a consent decree in addition to paying the employee large sums of money. In this case, Papa Johns will be required to train its employees on the finer points of the Americans with Disabilities Act, review its employment policies, and monitor and report complaints of discrimination over the next two years.
Service animals under the Americans with Disabilities Act
The ADA requires that all employers make reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities. It further defines the use of a service animal as a reasonable accommodation that an employer must make. And it isn’t just for the blind. In the case mentioned above, the blind employee required his service animal to get to work. By denying him the right to his service animal, the company prevented him from working.
However, the ADA defines service animals as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for individuals with disabilities. Examples of such work include:
- Guiding people who are blind
- Alerting people who are deaf
- Pulling a wheelchair
- Protecting an individual having a seizure
- Reminding an individual with mental illness to take their pills
- Calming an individual with PTSD
Service animals are considered working animals as opposed to pets. The work or task of the dog must be directly related to an individual’s disability. “Emotional support animals” do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.
The rules regarding service animals don’t just pertain to employers either. Public spaces and businesses must also allow service animals in their spaces. This even includes hospitals. However, a service animal can be excluded from an operating room where excess bodies could compromise an otherwise sterile environment.
Talk to an Atlanta, GA Disability Discrimination Lawyer Today
If your employer has refused to grant a reasonable accommodation and this prevents you from doing your job, you may be able to sue for disability discrimination under the ADA. Call the Atlanta employment lawyers at The Forsythe Law Firm, LLC today to schedule a free consultation, and we can begin investigating your situation today.
Source:
nrn.com/news/papa-johns-settles-disability-discrimination-lawsuit-175k
