EEOC Sues Criswell Chevrolet for Refusing to Accommodate Disabled Veteran

BALTIMORE – Criswell Chevrolet, Inc., one of Maryland’s largest independent car dealership groups, violated federal law by refusing to allow a parts department worker to have a service dog at work as a reasonable accommodation for his post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) resulting from combat duty in the Iraq War, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, Criswell Chevrolet summarily denied the parts department worker’s request to bring a service dog to his workplace in order to help control his panic attacks brought on by PTSD. Criswell Chevrolet also refused to offer or propose alternative accommodations. The employer’s demand that the employee continue to work while suffering panic attacks, and without any accommodation to control or prevent the attacks, forced the employee to quit, the EEOC said.

Such alleged conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits employers from denying a reasonable accommodation absent undue hardship and without engaging in the interactive process. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland (EEOC v. Criswell Chevrolet, Inc., Civil Action No. 8:25-cv-01632-TDC), after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. The EEOC seeks back pay, compensatory damages and punitive damages for the employee, and injunctive relief to remedy and prevent future discrimination based on disability.

“Under the ADA, employers are required to reasonably accommodate workers with disabilities, unless they can show that the requested accommodation would pose an undue hardship,” said Debra Lawrence, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Philadelphia District Office. “Here, when an employer summarily refuses a reasonable accommodation and offers no follow-up interactive process, it has ignored its obligations under the ADA and has forced the worker to choose between suffering at work or leaving his job.”

Jamie Williamson, director of the EEOC’s Philadelphia District Office, said, “Employees suffering from PTSD are entitled to accommodations that would minimize their suffering or distress. The EEOC is committed to enforcing the ADA to protect the rights of all workers.”

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

The lawsuit was initiated by the EEOC’s Baltimore Field Office, one of four local offices of the agency’s Philadelphia District Office. The Philadelphia District Office has jurisdiction over Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware, and portions of New Jersey and Ohio. Attorneys in the Philadelphia District Office also prosecute discrimination cases in Washington, D.C. and portions of Virginia.

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.