When employers outsource leave administration to a third-party administrator (TPA), legal responsibility remains with the employer – as a recent settlement out of Atlanta shows.
The case stems from an EEOC lawsuit and highlights that employers are accountable for Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance even when a third party manages accommodation requests.
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, a JCPenney warehouse associate in Georgia was diagnosed with breast cancer and requested time off for treatment. She sought time off through her employer’s TPA, but JCPenney denied her leave request.
“In this case, the employee followed all of JCPenney’s requirements to obtain an accommodation, including submitting medical documentation, but JCPenney still denied her request for leave and assessed her points against its attendance policy,” said Marcus G. Keegan, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Atlanta District Office.
Eventually, the employee’s medical absences exceeded the number of points allowed under the attendance policy. As a result, JCPenney terminated her employment on July 3, 2023, the agency claimed.
The EEOC alleged the actions violated the ADA, which generally requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified employees with disabilities unless doing so would create an undue hardship. The law also prohibits employers from firing an employee because of...
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