Kroger To Pay $75K To Settle Disability Lawsuit Brought By Breast Cancer Survivor

Kroger has settled an EEOC disability discrimination lawsuit involving an Atlanta employee.

Kroger will pay $75,000 to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit brought by a breast cancer survivor who worked at the grocery giant’s store in Edgewood, Georgia.

The settlement resolves a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which alleged that Kroger discriminated against the employee based on her disability and retaliated against her after she sought an accommodation.

According to the EEOC, the cashier suffered permanent nerve damage in her lower extremities following breast cancer treatment. She requested permission to use a stool or chair while working and provided medical documentation supporting the accommodation. Rather than addressing her request, the suit states that Kroger stopped scheduling the employee for work. The EEOC also alleged that the company continued to leave her off the schedule after she filed an internal discrimination complaint.

“In this case, the employee requested a reasonable accommodation that would have imposed a minimal, if any, burden on the company,” Marcus G. Keegan, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Atlanta District Office, said in a statement when the lawsuit was announced. “Rather than appropriately responding to the employee’s request and subsequent complaint of discrimination, Kroger ignored her and stopped scheduling her to work, violating federal law.”

The $75,000 agreement brings the federal case to a close and puts a fresh spotlight on the financial consequences businesses can face when workplace accommodation requests are mishandled. Court records in EEOC v. The Kroger Co. show the case was pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia before the parties reached a resolution. Federal case records tracked the litigation.

Darrell Graham, the director of the EEOC’s Atlanta District Office, said the agency remains focused on enforcing protections for workers with disabilities.

“The ADA’s protections are intended to remove the barriers to employment faced by workers with disabilities,” Graham said, according to 11 Alive news. “When an employer ignores these protections, the EEOC is committed to enforcing them.”

For employers, the takeaway is bigger than the $75,000 check. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, companies generally must engage with employees seeking reasonable accommodations unless doing so would create an undue hardship.