Geisinger Health, Geisinger Health System Foundation, and Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center reached a consent decree with the EEOC resolving allegations that, since January 2018, the healthcare system used policies that denied workers with disabilities reasonable accommodations.

The EEOC alleged that job-protected leave was limited to a set duration and that employees returning from leave had to apply and compete for their own jobs if vacant or secure another position within two months.

The EEOC further alleged that vacancies and job postings were manipulated in ways that interfered with employees with disabilities trying to regain their prior positions or obtain new ones.

The conduct was alleged to violate the Americans with Disabilities Act's prohibitions on disability discrimination, retaliation, and interference with statutory rights.

Under a two-year consent decree entered on February 17, Geisinger will pay $450,000. It is enjoined from disability discrimination, retaliation, and interference, and must consider policy modifications and reassignment without competition as accommodations. Geisinger must provide ADA and disability discrimination training, submit periodic reports to the EEOC on certain terminations after leave, and maintain policies and practices that comply with the ADA and the decree.

Source: https://www.eeoc.gov/newsroom/geisinger-health-entities-pay-450000-eeoc-disability-and-retaliation-lawsuit

Commentary

For healthcare employers, the above matter underscores how rigid, one-size-fits-all leave limits and forced competition for positions after medical leave can cross the line from neutral policy into unlawful disability discrimination, retaliation, or interference with statutory rights.

Front line care environments are operationally intense, but the ADA requires case-by-case, interactive processes, individualized assessments, flexibility, and good faith engagement rather than mechanical application of rules that predictably disadvantage workers with medical limitations.

Healthcare employers can reduce risk by redesigning accommodation and leave processes around individualized review and collaborative problem solving. Rather than treating maximum leave thresholds and vacancy posting rules as immovable, leaders should understand that leave, modified schedules, temporary job restructuring, and reassignment without competition are all potential reasonable accommodations that may be required absent undue hardship.

Key preventive steps include:

· Build a structured interactive process for each accommodation request, documenting discussions, options considered, and the rationale for outcomes

· Review maximum leave policies to ensure they allow for extensions or exceptions when additional leave is a reasonable accommodation

· Prohibit requiring employees to compete for their own positions after medical leave when reassignment or return to the prior job is feasible

· Monitor how vacancies are posted, filled, or removed to ensure there is no manipulation that would disadvantage workers with disabilities

· Train supervisors, HR, and scheduling staff on ADA obligations, including retaliation and interference prohibitions tied to leave and accommodation requests

· Audit terminations and non-renewals following medical leave to identify patterns suggesting discriminatory impact on employees with disabilities

The final takeaway is that that the best practice is to embed flexibility, reassignment options, and careful documentation into ADA processes so that workforce decisions align with employee needs while respecting legal rights and reducing exposure to costly enforcement actions.

Additional Sources: https://www.eeoc.gov/newsroom/eeoc-sues-geisinger-health-and-affiliates-disability-discrimination-and-retaliation