Question:  Would disability discrimination training have prevented this case?  See our trainings at http://www.hrclassroom.com.

Plasma Biological Services, LLC and Interstate Blood Bank, Inc., dba Plasma Biological Service, which own and operate plasma collection centers, have agreed to pay $60,000 to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

According to EEOC's suit, Plasma Biological Services placed an employee on a deferred donor list after an initial screening for a plasma donation showed a viral marker. After the employee's supervisor learned of his placement on the deferred donor list, the supervisor immediately terminated him. Subsequent tests showed the employee was actually negative for such a viral marker.

Firing an employee because of a perceived disability, or for having a record of disability, violates Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Plasma Biological Services, LLC and Interstate Blood Bank, Inc. d/b/a Plasma Biological Services, Civil Action No. 2:15-cv-02419) in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, Western Division, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

Besides the $60,000 in monetary relief, the three-year consent decree settling the lawsuit:

• enjoins Plasma, its supervisors and managers from failing to hire any applicant or discharging any employee because he or she tests positive for a viral marker;
• requires Plasma to modify its Standard Operating Policy Manual to state that Plasma does not maintain a policy of refusing to hire applicants or a policy of discharging any employee because he or she tests positive for a viral marker;
• requires Plasma to maintain separate medical and personnel files;
• requires Plasma to provide annual disability training for its managers, supervisors, and the president at all of its facilities during the decree's three-year term; and
• requires notice posting, reporting and monitoring.

Plasma Biological Services is a Tennessee company with its principal office located in Memphis. The company is engaged in the business of drawing human source plasma and selling it for profit.