Company Sued By EEOC After Refusing Remote Work To Woman Who Had A Stroke

The EEOC is going after one company who allegedly fired a woman for requesting remote work after suffering a stroke.

A utility company is being sued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for terminating a woman who requested to work remotely after suffering a stroke.

The EEOC filed a lawsuit against Osmose Utilities Services on Sept. 16 for allegedly refusing to accommodate an employee by allowing her to work remotely following a stroke, HR Drive reports. The employee’s role involved handling customer inquiries, including submitting service tickets by phone or electronically.

According to the lawsuit EEOC v. Osmose Utilities Services, Inc., following her stroke, the woman requested to work from home full-time due to her inability to drive and the office lights worsening her stroke-related headaches. However, management allegedly denied her request and a separate request to work remotely on the two to three days a week she had medical appointments.

Osmose allowed her to take leave for the appointments but ultimately allegedly fired her after her supervisor questioned her absences and pressured her to stop attending them, per the filing. Now the company is facing a lawsuit from the EEOC on claims of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by denying the employee a reasonable accommodation and retaliating against her.

Central to most remote work accommodation claims is the principle that, under the ADA, a person with a disability is not considered a “qualified individual” if they cannot perform the job’s essential functions, with or without reasonable accommodation, according to guidance. These cases often hinge on whether the job’s essential functions must be carried out on-site.

More companies have been requiring staff to return to the office in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced many into remote styles of work. In September 2023, research found that 90% of companies planned to return to work in the office by the end of 2024.

In Osmose’s case, the employee had previously worked remotely, along with others in her department, for several months during an office relocation. After the office returned to in-person work, the employee suffered a stroke, which led to vision impairments, memory loss, and headaches.

The lawsuit asserts that the woman’s role as a “One Call Locator”‘” could be performed with the reasonable accommodations she requested. However, Osmose failed to demonstrate any undue hardship these accommodations would cause and is accused of firing her unjustly.