EEOC Sues Kroger for Firing Employee with Disability After Stripping Her Of Existing Accommodation

HOUSTON – Kroger Texas L.P. – Houston Division, operator of Kroger grocery store #300 in Houston’s Clear Lake/NASA area, violated federal employment law when it failed to accommodate and then fired an employee because of her disability, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed last week.

In its lawsuit, the EEOC charged that a self-service checkout attendant suffering from neuropathy, who for three preceding years worked successfully using a walker, was stripped of that reasonable accommodation by new management. The employee’s neuropathy limited her ability to walk and move, and her feet went numb if she was required to stand for too long.

Kroger’s new management failed to interact with the employee to determine if the previously granted accommodation was reasonable or if another was potentially available. Instead, management told her to seek leave – which she did not want or need – until she could return to work without an accommodation. The employee was terminated by Kroger when she could not support a need for leave with medical documentation, according to the suit.

“Disability discrimination in the workplace, which includes failure to accommodate and discharge because of disability, will not be tolerated by the EEOC,” said Rayford Irvin, director of the EEOC’s Houston District Office. “We encourage any employee who believes they have been the victim of workplace discrimination based on disability to file a discrimination charge with the EEOC.”

Such alleged conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits employers from discriminating against employees because of their disabilities, including denying such individuals a reasonable accommodation, absent undue hardship, and firing them because they need an accommodation. The EEOC filed suit (U.S. EEOC v. Kroger Texas L.P. – Houston Division, Civil Action No. 4:26-cv-02448) in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

“An employer, in consultation with an employee facing a disability, must consider whether an accommodation is reasonable,” EEOC Senior Trial Attorney Claudia Molina said. “Revoking a previously granted reasonable accommodation can violate the ADA.”

In the lawsuit, the EEOC seeks back pay and instatement or front pay for the aggrieved employee, plus compensatory and punitive damages in amounts to be determined at trial. In addition, the EEOC is seeking a permanent injunction enjoining Kroger from engaging in disability discrimination in the future, and an order requiring Kroger to institute and carry out policies, practices and programs which govern requesting, processing and granting reasonable accommodations for disabilities, and which eradicate the effects of Kroger’s alleged discriminatory employment practices.

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

The EEOC’s Houston District Office has jurisdiction over Louisiana and the following counties in Texas: Angelina, Austin, Brazoria, Brazos, Calhoun, Chambers, Colorado, Fayette, Fort Bend, Galveston, Grimes, Hardin, Harris, Houston, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Lavaca, Liberty, Madison, Matagorda, Montgomery, Nacogdoches, Newton, Orange, Polk, Sabine, San Augustine, San Jacinto, Shelby, Trinity, Tyler, Victoria, Walker, Waller, Washington, and Wharton. 

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 also is responsible for coordinating the federal government’s employment antidiscrimination effort. More information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov.