The Modern Group, Ltd. (TMG), headquartered in Beaumont, Texas, and one of its subsidiaries, Dragon Rig Sales and Service, LLC, a manufacturing and service company which builds oilfield service equipment for energy and industrial companies, will pay $35,000 and furnish other relief to settle a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) disability discrimination lawsuit, the federal agency announced.
According to the lawsuit, Dragon Rig and TMG denied employment to an applicant with anxiety and Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) because of the prescription medications he used to treat those disabilities. The defendants made a job offer to the applicant after he applied at Dragon Rig in February 2019. The applicant completed and passed Defendants’ required drug screen because he had prescriptions for the medications.
Yet, the EEOC said, Dragon Rig and TMG jointly withdrew the offer of employment without contacting or engaging with the applicant to determine if he could perform the essential job functions with or without a reasonable accommodation. The companies based their decision on conclusory statements about the medications made by a medical review officer.
Such alleged conduct violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, as amended (ADA), which prohibits discrimination in hiring, firing, and other employment actions based on mental and physical disabilities. The ADA may provide protection, as it did in this case, to employees or applicants who are using opioids, are addicted to opioids, or were addicted to opioids in the past, if they are not currently using drugs illegally.
The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Dragon Rig Sales and Service, LLC and The Modern Group, Ltd., Case No. 1:21-CV-451) in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process. The consent decree settling the suit provides for settlement funds of $35,000 to be paid to the applicant, as well as management training, policy revisions, and other targeted relief to be implemented by the defendants.
Source: EEOC
Topics Texas Talent Manufacturing
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