Hudson Valley Hospital Center, Inc., a community hospital bordering Peekskill, N.Y., will pay $142,500 to a former nurse to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

The EEOC’s lawsuit (Civil Action No. 07-CV-83760), filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in White Plains, charged that the hospital discriminated against Glorianne Romano on the basis of her disability, Type I “brittle” diabetes, after she experienced a diabetic coma for which she was treated there.  Specifically, the lawsuit charged that the hospital failed to grant Romano a reasonable accommodation to permit her to modify her part-time work schedule as an employee health nurse so that she would work three days in a row rather than alternate work days.  Romano’s treating doctor submitted documentation stating that she needed a more consistent schedule to enable her to gain better control over her diabetes.  

Although the hospital initially granted the request for schedule modification, and Romano had previously worked a similar schedule without problems, the EEOC said, the hospital with¬drew the schedule accommodation, stating that it unduly disrupted the hospital’s business operations.  The EEOC charged that the hospital endangered Romano’s physical health and effectively terminated her employment by refusing to accommodate her request to work the modified part-time schedule.
 
The EEOC said that the hospital’s failure to grant a reasonable accommodation, and the resulting termination of Romano’s employment, violated the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits employment discrimination based on disability.  The EEOC filed suit after first attempting to reach a voluntary settlement out of court.

“This problem, like so many others, could have been avoided if this employer had simply fulfilled its legal obligation to work with the employee to find a reasonable accommodation,” said EEOC Acting Chairman Stuart J. Ishimaru.

In addition to the $142,500 in back pay and compensatory damages for Romano and the payment of attorneys’ fees to her private attorney, the 26-month consent decree enjoins Hudson Valley Hospital from engaging in further disability discrimination or retaliation.  It also provides for maintenance and distribution of procedures for responding to accommodation requests; anti-discrimination training for employees, managers, and the hospital’s human resources department; monitoring and reporting; and for the posting of a notice about EEOC and the lawsuit.  The consent decree has been submitted to the district court judge for approval.