Federal Agency Charges Medical Provider Fired Employee While She Was Recovering from Surgery and Replaced Her with Younger, Less-Qualified Co-Workers
WASHINGTON – Inova Surgery Center, LLC, which operates outpatient surgery centers in Northern Virginia, violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) by firing an employee because of her disability and age, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a suit filed today.
According to the lawsuit, when a 52-year-old radiologic technician requested an extension of her medical leave to recover from carpal tunnel surgery, Inova Surgery Center terminated her and replaced her with two co-workers, ages 24 and 35. The termination and replacement occurred while the employee was still on approved medical leave, the EEOC said.
Such conduct violates the ADEA, which protects employees 40 years of age and older from discrimination on the basis of age, and the ADA, which requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities if doing so would not pose an undue hardship. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Inova Surgery Center, LLC, Case No. 1:24-cv-1721), in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia after first attempting to reach a voluntary pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. In the lawsuit, the EEOC seeks back pay, liquidated damages, compensatory and punitive damages for the employee and equitable relief to prevent future discrimination.
“This lawsuit demonstrates the importance of providing necessary reasonable accommodations to enable employees to return from surgeries, absent undue hardship,” said EEOC Philadelphia Regional Attorney Debra M. Lawrence. “Quite often, it is older employees with disabilities who require these accommodations.”
Mindy E. Weinstein, director of the EEOC’s Washington Field Office, said, “The EEOC is committed to ensuring that older workers and workers with disabilities are able to access the same benefits and opportunities as their younger colleagues. Employers should be cognizant of their duties under the ADA and the ADEA.”
For more information on disability discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/disability-discrimination. For more information on age discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/age-discrimination.
The EEOC’s Washington Field Office is one of four offices in the Philadelphia District, which investigates discrimination charges and prosecutes cases arising out of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, parts of New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia and the District of Columbia.
The EEOC advances opportunity in the workplace by enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. More information is available at https://www.eeoc.gov/.
