The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has settled a disability discrimination lawsuit against Banner Health, headquartered in Phoenix. The EEOC had charged the company with breaching a mediation agreement it entered into, and firing and failing to accommodate an employee because he had a disability. Banner Health operates in Colorado, Nebraska, Arizona, California, Nevada, Wyoming, and Alaska. It is one of the largest non-profit health care systems in the country.
According to the EEOC’s suit, EEOC v. Banner Health, CV-10-01432-SRB, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona in Phoenix, Banner Health (formerly called Banner Mesa Lutheran) hired Lee Fladmo in 1984 as a kitchen worker/dietary aide. Fladmo has an intellectual disability; however, he could perform his job if he received supervision sensitive to his needs. During the course of his employment at Banner, Fladmo had made numerous requests for reasonable accommodation which were ignored.
In 2002, following a charge of discrimination filed with the EEOC, Banner entered into a mediated settlement in which it promised that it would not take any actions with respect to Fladmo’s employment without addressing them to his brother, who had his power of attorney. Some three years later, Fladmo made another request for an accommodation, which Banner refused to offer and did not discuss with his brother, breaching the mediation agreement, and ultimately fired him.
Such alleged conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities, and requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to enable their employees to work, absent undue hardship
In addition to the settlement requiring Banner to pay $255,000 to the Lee Fladmo Special Needs Trust, the company also must provide training at the Banner Gateway site for its managerial and supervisory employees on disability discrimination, develop policies prohibiting disability discrimination, if necessary, and post a notice that disability discrimination is unlawful and will not be tolerated.