Department store chain Dillard’s recently announced that it will pay $2 million to settle claims that it practiced workplace discrimination by asking employees who were using sick time to provide detailed medical information regarding why they needed the time off from work.
The settlement will bring to an end a class-action disability discrimination lawsuit that was filed in 2008 by the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission.
(In case you were wondering, it seems the closest Dillard’s store to Detroit is the chain’s Toledo location.)
The lawsuit was brought by a worker who was fired after she refused to give personal information and medical details to her supervisors, who wanted to know why she needed sick time.
Dillard’s was also accused of firing employees if they took more than the allowable number of sick days, which is illegal under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The settlement will be distributed among those who were employed at Dillard’s between August 2005 and August 209 who think they were affected by the company’s discriminatory practices. The EEOC has said it anticipates that “thousands” of employees and former employees will be affected.
Source: The Press-Enterprise, “WORKPLACE: Retailer fined $2 million for discrimination,” Dec. 18, 2012
- Workplace discrimination stories like this always interest us because many of our clients have claims along the same legal lines. If you are interesting in learning more about employment law in general, or if you want to come to a better understanding of the sort of work our firm does, you could visit the Workplace Discrimination page of our website.