EEOC Sues The Salvation Army for Disability Discrimination

LYNCHBURG, Va. — The Salvation Army, headquartered in Virginia with a facility in Lynchburg, violated federal law when it discriminated against an employee by denying her a reasonable accommodation to seek treatment for cancer and caused her to be separated from her employment, according to a lawsuit announced today by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, in October 2024, a case worker with Hodgkin’s lymphoma provided The Salvation Army with a medical note stating her chemotherapy treatments would continue through February 2025 and asking for intermittent leave for the treatments and related recovery. Instead, The Salvation Army told the employee it needed to let her go. She was presented with two options: resign and be eligible for reemployment when she was healthy, or be fired and no longer eligible for reemployment with The Salvation Army. The employee, who wanted to continue her employment with The Salvation Army, was forced to resign.

“Absent undue hardship, intermittent leave can be a reasonable accommodation that allows employees to continue to perform the essential functions of the job while receiving medical treatments for a disability,” said Melinda C. Dugas, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Charlotte District.

Such alleged conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which requires the accommodation of disabilities absent undue hardship, and prohibits employers from discharging an employee because of their disability or because they requested an accommodation. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. The Salvation Army, Case No.6:26-cv-00080-NKM-CKM) in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, Lynchburg Division, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.

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

The EEOC’s Charlotte District Office has jurisdiction over North Carolina, South Carolina, and 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 also is responsible for coordinating the federal government’s employment antidiscrimination effort. More information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov.