Austin’s FEC LLC and Austin Entertainment Center, LP d/b/a Austin’s Park N Pizza, a Pflugerville, Texas-based amusement park, has agreed to pay $20,000 and improve its workplace practices to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced.
According to EEOC’s lawsuit, the 26-year-old former employee with a disability, caused by childhood traumatic brain injuries, worked part-time on weekends for four years at Austin’s Park N Pizza, an amusement park and restaurant. He successfully performed custodial work, assisted with the miniature golf area and cleared tables.
When new management arrived, the company decided he was no longer able to do the job because he did not correctly operate a new electronic system for clocking in and out of work. In its suit, EEOC said, the company was unwilling to consider an alternative clock-in procedure.
Although a reasonable accommodation could have easily resolved the problem, Austin’s Park N Pizza stopped paying the former employee and notified him by email that he was fired, the agency charged.
Such alleged conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which protects employees from discrimination based on their disabilities and requires employers to provide employees with disabilities with reasonable accommodations.
EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Austin’s FEC, LLC and Austin Entertainment Center, LP d/b/a Austin’s Park N Pizza, Civil Action No.1-15-cv-00873) after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process to recover damages for the former employee.
As part of the consent decree resolving the suit, Austin’s Park N Pizza will pay $20,000 to the former employee. The company also agreed to ensure its employment policies conform with the law, implement training which specifically addresses disability discrimination, and post EEO notices at the workplace.
Source: EEOC
Related:
Topics Lawsuits
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.
AIG General Insurance Chairman McElroy to Retire May 1 
North Carolina Adjuster and Son Charged With Embezzlement in Roof Jobs 
Why New York’s Attorney General Objects to Trump’s Bond Insurer 
Supreme Court Makes It Easier to Sue for Job Discrimination 
