Michigan home health care provider to pay $65,000 in disability suit

Alternate Solutions Health Network, LLC and its affiliate Beaumont ASHN, LLC, (collectively ASHN), home health care providers, will pay $65,000 and provide other relief to resolve a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by by the US Equal Opportunity Commission (EEOC). ), the federal agency announced.

According to the EEOC lawsuit, a former employee who worked as a home-based occupational therapist suffered a grand mal seizure and was later diagnosed with a brain tumor and a seizure disorder. The former employee requested the possibility of using a ridesharing service as transportation to the patients’ homes. ASHN denied her request and then fired her, the EEOC said.

The alleged conduct violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination based on disability. The EEOC filed suit (Case No. 2:23-cv-13043 in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan) after first trying to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

Under the two-and-a-half-year consent decree settling the lawsuit, ASHN will pay $65,000 in monetary damages to the former employee; training human resources and management employees on ADA compliance; develop a reasonable accommodation policy that includes examples of possible accommodations; and submit annual reports on requests for reasonable accommodation.

Source: EEOC

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