A federal watchdog agency has sued the companies behind a Las Vegas call center, alleging they discriminated against disabled employees and retaliated against workers who dared to ask for accommodations. The lawsuit claims one employee who could not use his legs and worked remotely full time was still ordered to physically travel to the office just to handle paperwork and pick up paychecks.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the suit against GSK Research Inc. and KGS Research Inc., which operate VRI Research in Las Vegas, in the U.S. District Court for Nevada, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The agency alleges the companies failed to observe their legal responsibilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act dating back to 2018, discriminating against employees because of their disabilities and retaliating against those who requested help.
The lawsuit also says that employee asked not to travel to the office for minor administrative tasks, a request the companies allegedly refused. A second employee, who has muscular dystrophy, reportedly needed only short breaks to deal with muscle spasms.
Employees Allegedly Punished for Asking
The Review-Journal's report states that a manager allegedly told a worker he “didn't do accommodations,” while a human resources official allegedly claimed she was unaware of any law requiring the company to accommodate an employee's medical condition. According to the lawsuit, employees who requested accommodations were subjected to termination, placed on unpaid leave, or otherwise retaliated against.
The EEOC says it filed suit only after attempting to resolve the matter through administrative conciliation first, per the same report. The case falls under the jurisdiction of the EEOC's Los Angeles District Office, which handles discrimination charges and litigation across Southern Nevada along with Central and Southern California, Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, Wake Island, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Officials Vow Enforcement
Michael Mendoza, director of the EEOC's Las Vegas office, said employers must adhere to federal anti-discrimination laws including the ADA, and that the agency is ready to enforce those laws when employers ignore them, the Review-Journal reported. Beatriz Andre, acting regional attorney for the EEOC's Los Angeles district, said the commission will continue enforcing protections for employees with disabilities and will protect workers from retaliation when they assert their rights under the ADA.
The ADA prohibits discrimination based on disability, according to guidance published on ADA.gov. The law also requires employers to provide accommodations absent undue hardship and bars discharging an employee because of a disability or because they requested an accommodation. Broader compliance guidance for how employers and government entities are expected to meet these obligations is outlined in the agency's law and regulations materials.
Part of a Broader Pattern Nationally
The Las Vegas case echoes other recent EEOC actions involving remote-work accommodations for disabled employees. The commission sued FedEx Express, alleging the shipping giant violated federal law by refusing to accommodate disabled dispatchers' requests to keep working remotely after requiring them to return to its downtown Manhattan office in February 2023, according to HR Grapevine. That complaint alleged a 30-year FedEx dispatcher and several other disabled employees were denied the option to continue remote working, and that the company failed to engage in meaningful dialogue with disabled employees to explore alternative accommodations, actions the EEOC says forced at least one dispatcher to retire. The agency sought injunctive relief along with compensatory and punitive damages in that case.
A similar dispute played out with ISS Facility Services, where the EEOC filed suit alleging the company failed to accommodate an employee's disability and then terminated her in retaliation for requesting an accommodation, according to Kollman & Saucier, P.C. These cases, taken together, point to a recurring flashpoint between employers demanding in-person work and disabled employees who say remote arrangements were the only thing keeping them employed.
