The EEOC Shoots Another Healthcare “Fish In A Barrel”

Before the ink was even dry on my blog post yesterday, which discussed the EEOC seeming to zero in on healthcare folks or companies for disability discrimination, the EEOC struck again with another such lawsuit.

In a new release today, the EEOC alleges that a pediatric health care system violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), when it “failed to provide a job applicant a disability-related accommodation and rescinded its offer of employment because the applicant had a disability.”

Seems that because of an allergy to the flu vaccine that the employer insisted on, the job applicant asked for an accommodation, such as a vaccine to which she was not allergic.  The employer allegedly withdrew its offer of employment and hired someone who agreed to take the offered vaccine.

Nothing remarkable about this case, but it confirms for me, yet again, that the EEOC seems to focus particularly on healthcare and medical people or companies when it comes to disability-related claims because it can state, as the EEOC did in another such case, that “One would expect that a medical center, of all places, would be sensitive and understanding on the needs and challenges of an employee with a disability.”

As I noted yesterday, the EEOC clearly understands "shooting fish in a barrel,” that is - how easy it is to look good to the public and achieve a settlement when it accuses the helping profession of discriminating against people with disabilities.

“Think of the media attention when folks who are in the business of helping the sick, the disabled, and the infirm are caught discriminating against them,” and “the likelihood of a quick settlement.”

Let’s see what tomorrow brings …