Zoe Center for Pediatric & Adolescent Health to Pay $70,000 in EEOC Disability Discrimination Lawsuit

ATLANTA – Zoe Center for Pediatric & Adolescent Health, LLC, a provider of pediatric and adolescent health services in Columbus, Georgia, agreed to pay $70,000 to settle a disability discrimination and retaliation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

The EEOC’s suit charged that in January 2022, an employee requested a reasonable accommodation of one day of leave, one week of remote work, and then a modified schedule of working remotely three days per week due to her disabilities. The employee could have performed her job responsibilities within the proposed modified work schedule. However, the day after requesting the reasonable accommodation, Zoe Pediatrics denied the employee’s request and terminated her employment.

“Under the ADA, employers are obligated to reasonably accommodate employees who are disabled, absent undue hardship,” said Marcus Keegan, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Atlanta District Office. “Employers cannot retaliate against employees seeking to assert those rights. The EEOC is pleased that the impacted individual will be compensated, and that Zoe Center has agreed to take steps to ensure that ADA violations do not occur in the future.”

The provider’s alleged conduct violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits disability discrimination. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Zoe Center for Pediatric & Adolescent Health, LLC, Civil Action No. 4:23-CV-00167-CDL) in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, Columbus Division, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement via its conciliation process.

The two-year consent decree resolving the EEOC’s lawsuit requires Zoe Pediatrics to provide monetary relief to the employee; revise and redistribute their ADA policy; provide specialized ADA training to all employees; and post a notice in the workplace informing employees of the settlement and of their rights against discrimination. Furthermore, the company will provide the EEOC with periodic reports regarding requests for disability accommodations, as well as employee complaints of disability discrimination or retaliation.

Darrell Graham, district director of the EEOC’s Atlanta District Office, said, “All individuals with disabilities have the right to seek work conditions that allow them to be healthy, productive employees.  Employers must respect that right, and when they fail to do so, the EEOC remains committed to holding them accountable.”

For more information on disability discrimination, please visit www.eeoc.gov/disability-discrimination-and-employment-decisions. For more information on reasonable accommodations, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc-disability-related-resources/reasonable-accommodation.

The Atlanta District Office has jurisdiction over the State of Georgia and the State of South Carolina Counties of Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Beaufort, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, Georgetown, Hampton, Jasper and Williamsburg.

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.