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United  Road Towing, Inc., a Mokena, Ill.-based towing company, will pay $380,000 to 13  claimants and provide other relief resolving a disability discrimination  lawsuit.  

The EEOC’s  lawsuit, which was filed Sept. 30, 2009, charged that United Road Towing had  failed to provide reasonable accommodations to a class of employees with  disabilities.   The complaint highlighted United Road Towing’s  inflexible medical leave policy and practice of terminating employees with  disabilities at the end of medical leaves rather bringing them back to work  with reasonable accommodation.  The  alleged discrimination took place in Chicago, Phoenix, San Diego, Indianapolis,  Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

The EEOC alleged  that such conduct violates the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). The EEOC  filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (Case  No. 10-cv-6259) after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement  through its conciliation process.

In addition to  providing monetary relief to the 13 claimants, the consent decree includes  injunctive relief. The decree prohibits the company from discriminating against  those with disabilities and requires the implementation of a reasonable  accommodations policy.  It also requires  training on the ADA for the company’s management.