EEOC Sues Willow Park Healthcare for Disability Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation

OKLAHOMA CITY — Willow Park Healthcare Center and Southwest LTC Management Services violated federal law when they denied a nurse’s request for disability‑related medical leave, harassed her, and then fired her, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit announced today.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, a wound care nurse at Willow Park Healthcare Center in Lawton, Oklahoma needed surgery for a disabling back condition in 2024 and informed her supervisors that she would need time off for the surgery and recovery. The managers began harassing the nurse, intimidating and threatening her for weeks leading up to her surgery. When she submitted a formal written request to take 12 days off, Willow Park initially approved the request, but then fired her three days after her surgery, claiming it could not hold her position open while she recovered.

The suit alleges Willow Park terminated the nurse because of her disability and need for leave, and also in retaliation for her opposition to disability discrimination. Willow Park did not fill the nurse’s position for several months, long after she was cleared to return to work post-surgery.

“The ADA requires employers to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified employees with disabilities absent undue hardship, and a brief period of leave for medically necessary treatment and recovery is most often a reasonable accommodation,” said Andrea G. Baran, regional attorney for the EEOC’s St. Louis District. “Healthcare employers must follow the law, engage in the required interactive process, and refrain from coercion or threats when workers exercise their ADA rights.”

Such alleged conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities, absent undue hardship, and prohibits discrimination because of disability, including harassment, threats and intimidation, interfering with employees’ ability to seek accommodation, and retaliation against employees who oppose disability discrimination.

The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Southwest LTC–Lawton, LLC, d/b/a Willow Park Healthcare Center and Southwest LTC Management Services, LLC, Case No. 5:26-cv-02709-HE) in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.

David S. Davis, director of the EEOC’s St. Louis District, said, “Workers should not be punished for seeking medical treatment that will enable them to continue working and supporting themselves and their families. The EEOC will act when employers deny accommodations and retaliate against healthcare workers who assert their rights.”

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

The EEOC’s St. Louis District Office has jurisdiction over Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and a portion of Southern Illinois.

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.