A physician-owned hospital in Arkansas was sued by the EEOC for refusing to accommodate a nurse who had a seizure. She asked “to move to another position that did not involve direct patient care, or, in the alternative, a leave of absence until she could resume her nursing duties.”
The hospital’s reply? “You’re fired!”
To readers of this blog, the EEOC’s suit is no surprise; a regional director of the EEOC said last week (about a similar suit against a medical facility) that it is “ironic when a hospital, which is dedicated to caring for the health of its patients, ignores the medical concerns of an employee, refuses to even discuss providing a needed workplace modification, and instead fires him because of his disability.”
After this hospital just paid $35,000 to settle this case, what continues to surprise me is that medical and health professionals keep presenting such inviting targets for the EEOC.
“Shoulda read this blog!”