Dive Brief:
- Paycom Payroll LLC failed to provide reasonable accommodations to an employee with a severe food allergy and then terminated her, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleged in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
- The Oklahoma-based payroll and human capital software company allegedly fired a benefits coordinator with a severe anaphylactic food allergy to onions just shy of a month after she started for her “health and wellness,” per court documents.
- “Employers have a legal obligation to explore and provide reasonable accommodations for workers with disabilities — especially when the potential consequences of inaction are life-threatening,” Andrea Baran, regional attorney for EEOC’s St. Louis District, said in a news release. “No employee should be forced to choose between their health and their livelihood.”
Dive Insight:
EEOC alleged that Paycom failed to provide a reasonable accommodation for the worker and subjected her to a discriminatory discharge in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The worker said she disclosed her allergy during the interview process, to Paycom officials during orientation and to her team lead.
Within days of her first day of work, co-workers carrying onion burgers passed near her cubicle and she had an anaphylactic reaction that required her to leave the office and use emergency medication. The next day, she was again exposed to onions and had to receive treatment from paramedics on site.
The worker subsequently sent an email to HR requesting an accommodation because she is “deathly allergic to onions.” She asked if she could work in a secluded room during lunch hours to avoid exposure.
HR approved the temporary use of a private workspace from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and gave the worker forms for her and her medical provider to fill out.
The worker was exposed to onions on several more occasions, including one that resulted in a severe anaphylactic reaction and required an ambulance transport to the hospital. Another occurred after Paycom catered food with onions for workers.
“Despite their knowledge that the limited accommodations they provided to [the worker] did not effectively or adequately limit her exposure to onions in the workplace, Paycom’s HR officials failed to take any other steps to protect [her] from exposure,” EEOC said.
The worker submitted medical documentation from her doctor that recommended she be moved to an enclosed office away from food areas or permitted to work from home.
“Paycom officials refused to provide the recommended accommodations. Instead, Paycom officials told [her] to wear a mask and carry an EpiPen,” per court documents.
The company also relocated the worker to a room on a floor with fewer employees; however, the room was about 15 feet from a breakroom that routinely had food. Paycom did not notify the employee’s co-workers about her allergy or do anything else to protect her from exposure, EEOC said.
Paycom eventually fired the worker, “without waiting for additional documentation that she offered, without consulting with her physician or any other expert, and without attempting other reasonable accommodation options,” EEOC said.
A reasonable accommodation “would not have imposed an undue hardship on the operation of Paycom’s business,” the lawsuit said; by not providing the employee with a reasonable accommodation, the company showed “reckless indifference” to her federally protected rights.
EEOC’s ADA enforcement regulations allow for a company to apply a direct threat standard if there is “a significant risk of substantial harm to the health or safety of the individual or others that cannot be eliminated or reduced by reasonable accommodation.”
To do so, an employer needs to consider whether any potential harm could be prevented either by eliminating the food exposure or by relocating the employee to a different part of the workplace in a way that does not create undue hardship for the employer, senior counsel previously told HR Dive.
EEOC said the agency was unable to reach a pre-litigation settlement with Paycom through its administrative conciliation process before filing the lawsuit.
Paycom said in an emailed statement that the company does not comment on pending litigation but “is committed to the well-being of [its] employees.”
“We maintain a workplace that complies with applicable federal, state and local employment laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act,” Paycom said.
