BABY FOOD MAKER FORCED DISABLED EMPLOYEE TO TAKE “LESS DESIRABLE POSITION”
MEAD JOHNSON – a baby food formula maker – refused to reasonably accommodate an employee after she suffered from complications from foot and ankle surgery. Rather than permit a “work-hardening program,” which would have allowed her to gradually return to a full-time schedule, she was forced to take leave and then compelled to take a “less desirable position.”
Believing that such conduct violated the American with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan (EEOC v. Mead Johnson Nutrition Company, Case No. 1:23-cv-454), seeking monetary damages and injunctive relief.
In a recently announced settlement, Mead Johnson not only agreed to donate $15,000 to the American Cancer Society, in the employee’s honor,but will also modify its training practices and submit annual reports to the agency.
In a written statement, Miles Uhlar, trial attorney for the EEOC's Detroit Field Office, noted that “We appreciate Mead Johnson’s willingness to resolve this lawsuit on reasonable terms following [the employee’s] unfortunate passing …. Employers should realize that the EEOC will robustly pursue claims for violations of the ADA, even in cases such as this, where the claim for lost wages was limited to a five-week period.”
Now how formulaic was that?
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