The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) filed a lawsuit in Hawaii federal court, alleging that Oceanic Time Warner Cable LLC (dba Spectrum) unlawfully discriminates against disabled employees by maintaining inflexible leave and attendance policies in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”).  EEOC v. Oceanic Time Warner Cable dba Spectrum and Charter Comm. Inc., CV 18-00357 DKW-KJM (D. Haw., Sept. 19, 2018).

The lawsuit alleges the following Spectrum practices violate federal law:

• New Hire/Transfers Attendance Policy – Spectrum discharges employees with disabilities who incurred two unpaid instances of leave within their 180-day probationary period even though some or all of the leave was disability-related and additional leave would not impose an undue hardship.
• Maximum Leave and Excessive Excused Absences Policies – Spectrum discharges employees with disabilities who exhausted leave under the Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”), union contract leave, or who are deemed to have accumulated too many absences, even though such absences are disability-related and additional leave would not impose an undue hardship.

The EEOC claims that based on these policies, Spectrum terminated employees rather than engaging in the interactive process to determine if reasonable accommodations, including additional leave, were needed.  According to Glory Gervacio Saure, director for the EEOC's Honolulu local office, “Terminating employees on leave without engaging in the interactive process and requiring employees to return to full duty without an accommodation are issues that the EEOC continually sees.”  The EEOC seeks back pay, front pay, compensatory and punitive damages for the class, as well as injunctive relief to prevent future discrimination.

Recommended Employer Actions

Employers should review their leave and attendance policies to make sure they are not so inflexible as to violate the ADA.  Employers should also ensure supervisors understand employees’ ADA rights and are trained to recognize and appropriately respond to requests for accommodation and to engage in the interactive process.