Worker fired after asking to work fewer than 12 hours a day on doctor’s orders, feds say
A man who missed work under doctor’s orders was warned he’d be fired for more medically excused absences in Mississippi, according to federal officials.
So the longtime Sanderson Farms employee returned to work a few days later at the company’s processing plant in Summit and tried pushing through his medical condition — severe cluster headaches and migraines — until he ended up in an emergency room on May 4, 2017, a lawsuit filed in federal court says.
At work, a cluster headache attack came on, causing the man to lose consciousness and fall down a flight of stairs at the McComb Processing Plant, resulting in his hospitalization, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which filed the lawsuit.
Afterward, his doctor ordered him to work no more than 12 hours in a day, or overnight, a complaint says.
Sanderson Farms, the third-largest producer of chicken products in the U.S., refused to accommodate the order and fired the employee within the month after he provided the company with his doctor’s note, according to the complaint.
Now, Sanderson Farms, LLC and Sanderson Farms, LLC (Processing Division) will pay $62,384 to settle the EEOC’s lawsuit accusing the companies of disability discrimination in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the agency announced in a June 14 news release.
Under the ADA, a disability is defined as a “physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities.”
McClatchy News contacted attorneys representing the companies in the case on June 15 and didn’t receive an immediate response.
“The ADA recognizes that individuals with disabilities are able to perform jobs and make important contributions to our society and our economy,” EEOC Birmingham district director Bradley Anderson said in a statement “It is unlawful under the ADA for an employer to fire an employee because of his disability or because he seeks a reasonable accommodation.”
The Sanderson Farms employee was fired after nearly seven years of employment, according to the complaint.
After he provided the company with his doctor’s order on May 26, 2017, he was told to cover an absent employee’s shift after having finished his shift, the complaint says.
If he agreed, he would’ve had to work more than 12 hours overnight — which was against his doctor’s order — and would’ve missed a dose of his prescription medication, according to the EEOC.
The company “refused to discuss (his) request for accommodation” and disciplined him by sending him home, the complaint says.
He was ordered to return to work on June 6, when he worked a half-shift before learning he was fired and being publicly escorted out of the processing plant, according to the complaint. His firing officially went into effect on June 22, 2017, the complaint says.
The lawsuit settlement’s two-year consent decree bans Sanderson Farms from future disability discrimination and orders the companies to revise their policy on the ADA, according to the EEOC. Additionally, employees must undergo ADA training at the Summit processing plant.
Sanderson Farms, LLC and Sanderson Farms, LLC (Processing Division) are part of Wayne-Sanderson Farms, which is based in Oakwood, Georgia.
Summit is about 140 miles northwest of Biloxi.
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