Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has sued Citgo Petroleum Corporation, alleging that it violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) when it failed to conduct an individualized assessment after a new hire failed a post-offer medical examination.
- Following several steps in the hiring process, Dale Hudson's last hurdle was passing a post-offer exam. The review revealed that Hudson had permanent vision loss in one eye; after Citgo was informed of his monocular vision, it withdrew the offer of employment.
- Citgo "imposed eligibility criteria not related to or consistent with business necessity" and made a blanket decision to disqualify Hudson without an individualized assessment and without consideration of whether he was able to perform the functions of the job with or without an accommodation, EEOC alleged. The suit seeks back and front pay for Hudson, as well as compensatory and punitive damages.
Dive Insight:
Recent rulings serve as a reminder to employers that when physical or mental impairments are involved, each situation must be considered on an individual basis. Blanket rules, even if they seem generous, can be risky; UPS learned this the hard way, paying $17 million to resolve a suit challenging it's 12-month, no-fault leave policy.
Instead, the ADA requires that each employee be assessed individually, and that employers provide reasonable accommodations unless they pose an "undue hardship" to the employer. This is where EEOC took issue with Citgo's actions: "It is regrettable that instead of doing an individualized assessment of whether Mr. Hudson could perform the job with or without reasonable accommodations, Citgo withdrew the offer and assumed, without further investigation whether a person with monocular vision could not perform the job," an EEOC regional attorney said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.
The same case-by-case review is required when evaluating whether a proposed accommodation is "reasonable" under the law. "Generalized conclusions will not suffice to support a claim of undue hardship. Instead, undue hardship must be based on an individualized assessment of current circumstances that show that a specific reasonable accommodation would cause significant difficulty or expense," according to EEOC's Enforcement Guidance: Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship Under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Finally, this suit illustrates that it's important to remember that the ADA applies not only to employees, but applicants as well. From new-hire exams like Citgo's to online job postings and applications, employers must ensure that their hiring process is accessible and nondiscriminatory.