William Beaumont Hospital in Michigan, a healthcare provider now known as Corewell Health East, will pay $30,000 to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the EEOC said Feb. 23 in a news release.
The settlement resolves allegations that the hospital failed to reassign a qualified nurse at its Wayne, Mich., location to certain part-time vacancies as a reasonable accommodation for her disability.
According to the EEOC, the hospital determined the nurse could not work less than 32 hours per week in her position because of a medical work restriction. The nurse expressed interest in several roles she believed she could perform within those limits and requested reassignment. The federal agency alleges that in April 2019, the hospital declined to transfer her to a vacant position for which she was qualified and instead required her to apply and compete for openings. After several months of submitting applications, she secured a position through that process.
The lawsuit alleged the hospital violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. The EEOC filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan after attempting to reach a settlement.
Corewell Health shared the following statement with Becker’s: “We are committed to equal employment opportunities for all team members and have policies and procedures to support team members who require accommodations to perform their job responsibilities. In this case, we believe we complied with the ADA and identified multiple accommodations for this team member.”
As part of the settlement, the hospital also agreed to compliance-related reporting to the EEOC, training for human resources employees and managers on the ADA and reasonable accommodations and posting a notice in the workplace informing employees of their rights and the prohibition against disability discrimination.
Corewell Health has dual headquarters in Grand Rapids and Southfield, Mich., and includes Corewell Health East facilities in Dearborn, Farmington Hills, Grosse Pointe, Royal Oak, Taylor, Trenton, Troy, Wayne and Southfield.
