Scottsdale (Ariz.) Healthcare Hospitals, doing business as HonorHealth, has agreed to pay $1.75 million to former employees to resolve allegations that it did not provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities, including failing to provide reassignment.
HonorHealth also agreed to review and update their equal employment opportunity and reasonable accommodation policies to ensure they comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidance. The system will also provide training on the ADA and its revised reasonable accommodation policies to its employees.
The disability discrimination lawsuit was filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2020.
"When employees request reasonable accommodations that would allow them to perform their jobs, the ADA requires employers to engage in an interactive process with those employees and provide a reasonable accommodation unless there is an undue hardship," Nancy Sienko, acting district director of the EEOC's Phoenix District Office, said in a Sept. 18 news release. "If current employees become unable to do their job with or without a reasonable accommodation due to their medical conditions, employers are required to provide reassignment to another job if there are open positions they are qualified for."