Dive Brief:

• UPS agreed to pay $150,000 to resolve allegations it violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to accommodate and then firing an employee with diabetes, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced Dec. 22. Also, per a three-year consent decree, when UPS receives a request to reasonably accommodate a disability, it must engage in a good faith, interactive process to identify one.
• The former employee, who worked as a pre-loader at a Jacksonville, Florida, warehouse, has erratic, or brittle, diabetes and wears an insulin pump with a continuous glucose monitor, the EEOC said. He asked an HR supervisor for occasional, less-then-five-minute breaks between loading trailers so he could check his blood sugar and eat or drink something if necessary, according to the allegations. Even though he was able to perform the job’s essential functions, the HR supervisor referred to him as a “liability” due to his disability, the EEOC alleged. After his second day on the job, the HR supervisor fired him, according to the EEOC.
• The EEOC sued UPS for violating the ADA. In March, a federal district court granted summary judgment to the agency, the EEOC said. UPS denied the allegations but agreed to settle the case to avoid further litigation and stipulated that the terms are fair, according to the consent decree. In addition to monetary relief, UPS agreed to offer to reinstate the employee. Its ADA policy must also ensure the HR department considers reasonable disability accommodation requests, and it must train HR personnel, managers and supervisors on how to properly respond to such requests.

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