Detroit, MI - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan has reached a settlement with the Michigan Department of Treasury, the Michigan Civil Service Commission, and the State of Michigan’s Office of State Employer to resolve a disability discrimination lawsuit.
The lawsuit is based on a disability discrimination claim made by an employee of the Michigan Department of Treasury. In the lawsuit, the U.S. Attorney’s Office describes how the employee needed to complete a medical treatment during work hours and submitted a reasonable accommodation request to use an empty office space for a short time each day. After initially allowing the employee to do so, the Michigan Department of Treasury revoked the accommodation, denying her subsequent requests and requiring the employee to travel back and forth from home during the workday to complete the procedure, until she filed a charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The lawsuit also describes the roles that the Michigan Civil Service Commission and the Office of State Employer play in the reasonable accommodation process for numerous other state agencies.
Under the terms of the settlement agreement, the Michigan Department of Treasury will pay $40,000 in damages to the employee’s estate. As noted in the settlement agreement, the Michigan Civil Service Commission recently revised statewide rules and regulations for employees’ reasonable accommodations. Additionally, the settlement agreement requires the Michigan Department of Treasury, the Michigan Civil Service Commission, and the Office of State Employer to review and revise their respective ADA policies, practices, procedures, and documents. Supervisors at the Michigan Department of Treasury must receive periodic training on the ADA and these revised policies. Staff at the Michigan Civil Service Commission and the Office of State Employer who are involved in reviewing, evaluating, or making decisions on reasonable accommodation requests must attend the same training programs.
“At the heart of this case are the experiences of one employee, who found herself struggling with both a serious health condition and her employer," said Dawn N. Ison, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. “Unfortunately, the employee passed away before the case resolved, but we commend the state agencies involved for taking steps to address her individual case and their commitment to revising broader policies and procedures that will help protect the rights of other state employees who have disabilities."
The case was brought by Assistant U.S. Attorney Shannon Ackenhausen, Acting Chief of the Civil Rights Unit. The full and fair enforcement of the ADA is a priority of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan and the Disability Rights Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. The Civil Rights Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office was established in 2010 with the mission of prioritizing federal civil rights enforcement. For more information on the Office’s civil rights efforts, including a copy of the court’s opinion and order, please visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-edmi/programs/civil-rights.
Individuals who believe they have been subjected to discrimination or experienced a civil rights violation can submit a complaint with the U.S. Attorney’s Office by email at usamie.civilrights@usdoj.gov or by phone at (313) 226-9151. Complaints can also be submitted to the Civil Rights Division through its complaint portal.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys