Sears pays $6.2 million to settle disability employment suit
September 30th, 2009From the Chicago Sun-Times and Bloomberg News/Kansas City Star:
Sears Holdings Corp. has agreed to pay a record $6.2 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that accused the retailer of illegally firing a disabled worker.
The consent decree represents the largest settlement ever for the agency in a single lawsuit alleging violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act, the EEOC said.
The 2004 lawsuit arose from a claim filed by former service technician John Bava, who had been injured on the job. He alleged that Sears fired him rather than make reasonable accommodations to let him return to work. The agency said the company had treated hundreds of other employees the same way.
“The facts of this case showed that, nearly 20 years after the enactment of the ADA, the rights of individuals with disabilities are still in jeopardy,” said Stuart J. Ishimaru, the commission’s acting chairman. “At the same time, this record settlement sends the strongest possible message that the EEOC will use its enforcement authority boldly to protect those rights and advance equal employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities.”
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October 14th, 2009 at 8:26 am
I wanted to share with you information on two sites of interest: http://www.whatcanyoudocampaign.org – a campaign in which our organization has been a partner and which has on its home page links to an excellent PSA and videos concerning employment and disability.
Our organizaton also runs an excellent summer internship program for college students with disabilities – Emerging Leaders — http://www.emerging-leaders.com.
I would welcome the opportunity to provide additioal information.