Tyson agrees to settle suit with EEOC
by February 23, 2012 5:42 pm 111 views
Springdale-based Tyson Foods will pay Mark White of Sedalia, Mo. $35,000 to settle a disability discrimination suit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in May 2010.
White has epilepsy that has been controlled with medication for 12 years and had previously worked for Tyson Foods two other times. But when he applied for a maintenance job in the Sedalia processing plant, he was denied employment because of his epilepsy, according to EEOC settlement made public today, Feb. 23.
The EEOC claimed Tyson violated the Americans with Disabilities Act with respect to White’s employment denial.
It turns out Tyson had instituted a new medical assessment procedure since last hiring White. Tyson claimed he was not hired because he did not pass a medical evaluation required for applicants with epilepsy. The medical assessment was conducted to determine whether White could safely perform the job.
Tyson Foods spokesman Worth Sparkman released the following statement regarding the settlement: “Pursuant to Tyson’s policies and procedures and in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Tyson has always used a three-step medical assessment process and always permits an applicant to provide additional medical information — as it did in this case — when an applicant has been disqualified for a position based on the judgment of an independent medical professional.”
The EEOC found that the doctor who performed the evaluation for Tyson did not examine White, but relied on outdated medical research in determining that he could not safely perform the job. At the same time, Tyson employed several other persons with epilepsy who had been grandfathered in, according to the EEOC release.
Sparkman said the company does not typically discuss personnel matters, but he did confirm the EEOC settlement.
In addition to the $35,000 back pay and compensatory damages to White, the EEOC notes that Tyson’s three-step process gives an applicant who’s been disqualified from employment the right to a second medical assessment at the applicant’s expense. Additionally, an independent and determinative third medical assessment will be made for any applicant not hired after the second assessment.
For the Sedalia plant, Tyson has agreed to make the three-step protocol available in writing. It is provided verbally elsewhere, Sparkman said.