The Phoenix Center to Pay $65,610 in EEOC Disability Discrimination Lawsuit

DETROIT – The Phoenix Center, a mental health and substance abuse recovery center headquartered in Ironton, Ohio, will pay $65,610 and furnish other relief to resolve a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Center.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, on or around Aug. 25, 2021, a woman applied for a case manager position at one of The Phoenix Center’s four Ohio facilities but was rejected a month later because of her chronic migraine condition, which required medication. The EEOC also charged that the Nov. 8, 2021, firing of another Phoenix Center employee was unlawfully carried out due to the employee’s history of alcohol dependence. Further, the suit alleged that the employer subjected a class of applicants to impermissible medical inquiries.

Such alleged conduct violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits employers from firing or refusing to hire qualified individuals due to an actual disability or a record of disability, or because the employer regarded them as having an impairment. Alcohol dependence may be a disability under the ADA, if it substantially limits one or more major life activity. The ADA also prohibits employers from asking applicants disability-related questions or conducting medical examinations before making a conditional offer of employment. The EEOC filed suit (Case No. 1:23-cv-592) in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

Under the five-year consent decree resolving the lawsuit, The Phoenix Center will pay $26,938 to the woman it declined to hire, $31,171 to the employee it fired, and $7,500 to fifteen applicants whom it subjected to unlawful medical inquiries ($500 per person). The employer will also train executives, directors, managers and HR personnel on the ADA, and post a notice in the workplace informing employees of their rights under the ADA.

“An employer cannot fire employees or reject applicants based on unfounded beliefs that their medical conditions – either past or present – render them unable to perform the jobs they have or seek,” said Kenneth Bird, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Indianapolis District Office. “The EEOC will continue to enforce these crucial provisions of federal law.”

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

The EEOC’s Indianapolis District Office has jurisdiction over Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky and parts of Ohio.

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.