Georgia Power agreed Tuesday to pay almost $1.6 million to settle complaints by 24 former employees or job applicants that the company fired them or denied them jobs because of their disabilities.
The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said the Atlanta utility violated the law because it disregarded physicians’ opinions — and those of its own occupational therapists in some cases — that the people were able to return to work or to do the jobs they applied for after their conditions improved. Such acts violate the the Americans with Disabilities Act, the EEOC said.
The EEOC said former Georgia Power meter reader Mickey Simmons was put on leave when he suffered kidney failure that required dialysis.
However, when Simmons’ health improved and his doctor said he could return to work, Georgia Power fired him, the agency said.
In a lawsuit filed in 2013 in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, the EEOC detailed similar stories of a paid intern who suffered a traumatic brain injury but could work with medication; an equipment operator whose seizures could be controlled with medication; and a senior draftsman who could do his job despite suffering an eye condition.
All lost their jobs, the EEOC said, even though their doctors and sometimes Georgia Power’s occupational therapists said they were able to perform their duties.
“An employer cannot refuse to hire or return an employee with a disability to work without doing an individualized assessment of that person and determining whether the employee or applicant can perform the job with or without a reasonable accommodation,” said EEOC District Director Bernice Williams-Kimbrough.
Those steps, she said, “are the essence” of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Georgia Power denied the alleged discrimination, but agreed to policy changes included in the EEOC settlement to “further enhance the safe workplace we provide.”
The $1.6 million settlement is being paid to the former workers and job applicants for lost wages and other damages. None is asking to return to work at the utility, said an EEOC attorney.
Georgia Power agreed to change its policies on employee seizures and drugs to comply with the disability law. The company also agreed to three years of monitoring by the EEOC, including regular reports on workers or job applicants who lose jobs due to disabilities.
Georgia Power originally forced people out of work if they had chronic seizures or took any drug prohibited by the company, said Lynette Barnes, the EEOC’s action regional attorney for the Atlanta district.
But “not all employees are affected the same” by some of the drugs, said Barnes. The new policy requires the company to make an individual assessment of the person’s ability to do the job in those circumstances, or to consider the advice of the worker’s doctor, she said.
“Our strict policies … help ensure that employees with safety-sensitive job requirements can safely do their jobs every day,” said Georgia Power in a statement.
However, it continued,“in light of our commitment to safety and our employees, the company has agreed to modify its seizure policy and drug and alcohol policy, and formalize its process of assessing employees’ and applicants’ ability to safely and properly perform their job.”
