Brookdale Senior Living has decided to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after formerly planning to defend itself “vigorously” against it.
The company will pay a job applicant $25,000 and will “take steps toward ensuring that reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities are properly processed” as part of a three-year consent decree, the EEOC said.
In a statement to McKnight’s Senior Living, Brookdale said that the company “disagrees with the EEOC’s claims and findings in this matter, but it agreed to cooperate with the EEOC in good faith to reach a resolution on a disputed claim. Accordingly, Brookdale agreed to enter into an agreement to reinforce its commitment to applicants and associates protected by the [Americans with Disabilities Act] and the [Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act].”
The EEOC had announced the lawsuit in August. As previously reported, the commission alleged that in mid-2015, Brookdale had offered an applicant a full-time position as a server at its Brookdale Place at Fall Creek senior living community in Indianapolis. The job offer was contingent on the woman undergoing a physical exam and passing a drug screening.
Due to a disability, the applicant is only able to urinate through a stoma in her abdomen. The EEOC claimed that Brookdale subsequently “denied the applicant’s request for a reasonable accommodation, subjected her to extensive and invasive questioning about her disability and then rescinded their job offer,” considering her drug test result as a “fail” even though a urine sample had not been collected.
“We appreciate Brookdale’s willingness to reach an early resolution of this case and its commitment, moving forward, to improve the reasonable accommodation process for applicants with disabilities,” EEOC Indianapolis Office Trial Attorney Alessandra Rosa said in a statement.
The consent decree settling the lawsuit provides that, in addition to paying the applicant $25,000, the company will train certain human resources professionals and managers and inform applicants of the process to request a reasonable accommodation for pre-employment testing, if needed.
“Brookdale is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and is committed to complying fully with the [ADA] and [ADAAA] as it relates to its associates and applicants,” the company told McKnight’s Senior Living.
