Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta has agreed to pay a job applicant $50,000 in settlement of claims that the health system violated federal law by rescinding a job offer after the applicant requested a disability-related accommodation, according to court records reviewed by Becker’s.
The settlement amount is part of a consent decree proposed May 27 by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. The parties are asking the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, to approve and enter the consent decree.
The proposed decree aims to resolve a lawsuit filed Sept. 12 by the EEOC. The agency said in the lawsuit that the applicant for a registration associate position, Najah Abdel-Hakim, requested a disability-related exemption to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s flu vaccination requirement and provided medical documentation of a severe allergy to eggs.
The agency said in the lawsuit that the applicant requested reasonable accommodation of an exemption or an egg-free flu vaccine but that the health system failed to provide either and rescinded its job offer based on the applicant’s disability. The agency also said the job was filled by an internal candidate who had “no issue” receiving the flu vaccine.
In addition to the $50,000 payment, the health system has agreed to revise its flu vaccination policy in multiple ways. This includes removing the phrase “life-threatening” from its description of a qualifying allergic reaction for its medical exemption requests and medical exemption documentation form, according to the proposed decree.
The health system shared the following statement with Becker’s: “Children’s maintains that it did not engage in any action that constitutes discrimination under the ADA or otherwise.”
