EEOC Sues Peak Performers for Disability Discrimination

AUSTIN, Texas — Peak Performers, incorporated as St. Vincent de Paul Rehabilitation Services of Texas, Inc., an Austin-based staffing agency providing staffing and recruitment services for workers with disabilities, violated federal law when it refused to provide a reasonable accommodation to a disabled executive assistant and then fired her, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, following a suicide attempt resulting from mental health conditions, an executive assistant with a disability requested approximately four to six weeks of unpaid leave to receive outpatient medical treatment. The EEOC’s lawsuit alleged that even though executives at Peak Performers knew the executive assistant asked for time off to seek treatment for mental health-related disabilities, the company denied her brief, unpaid leave request and instead fired her in April 2024. Ultimately, the executive assistant completed her treatment and would have been able to return to her job within three weeks, the EEOC’s suit said.

“To effectively address the mental health crisis in the United States, all segments of our society that touch the lives of workers with psychological disabilities must do their part,” said EEOC Acting Dallas Regional Attorney Ronald L. Phillips. “Employers do their part simply by refraining from unlawful discrimination against workers with psychological disabilities — and by providing reasonable accommodations to those workers who are already entitled to receive them by existing federal law. Merely following the law is not too much to ask of employers, and, accordingly, all who fail to do their part must be held accountable.”

The type of conduct alleged in the EEOC’s complaint violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for the known disabilities of employees absent an undue hardship, and prohibits employers from terminating employees on the basis of their disabilities, including when their terminations are caused by the employers’ failure to provide reasonable accommodation. The EEOC filed suit (U.S. EEOC v. St. Vincent De Paul Rehabilitation Services of Texas, Inc. d/b/a Peak Performers, Case No. 1:25-cv-01551) in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.

EEOC San Antonio Field Office Director Norma Guzman said, “Employers have a legal obligation to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities, barring the existence of an undue hardship. While this obligation can include providing accommodations related to physical disabilities, such as cancer or diabetes, it equally applies to mental health disabilities, such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.”

For more information on disability discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/disability-discrimination.

The lawsuit was initiated by the EEOC’s Dallas District Office, which has jurisdiction over a substantial part of Texas and parts of southern New Mexico.

The EEOC is the sole federal agency authorized to investigate and litigate against businesses and other private sector employers for violations of federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. For public sector employers, the EEOC shares jurisdiction with the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division; the EEOC is responsible for investigating charges against state and local government employers before referring them to DOJ for potential litigation. The EEOC also is responsible for coordinating the federal government’s employment antidiscrimination effort. More information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.