Well, it’s official – at least in our reckoning: the EEOC is, in fact, targeting health care facilities for alleged ADA violations, as we have been claiming for awhile.  

In December we repeated our warning that the EEOC is, perhaps, out to make a clear point about the ADA by focusing on companies that service the disabled, or maybe it is just good PR to allege disability discrimination in the health care field.  Be it a phlebotomist with a knee injury, or a doctor with epilepsy — the EEOC gets good mileage out of skewering hospitals, rehab centers, or clinics.   

Just yesterday the EEOC sued The Fort Worth Center of Rehabilitation alleging that it made a job offer to a certified nurse assistant, contingent upon passing a drug screen. The applicant said that because of kidney failure, she could not do a urine-based screen, and her request for a reasonable accommodation, i.e., a different type of drug test, was rejected, and her offer was revoked.

Apparently there was no “undue burden” to administer another test since one or more were available. The EEOC said that: "This employer could have accommodated [the applicant’s] disability in several different ways. For example, blood or hair screens are drug tests that do not require a urinalysis."

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that the Center of Rehabilitation“offers inpatient treatment for people dealing with amputations, joint replacements, postsurgical complications, lung and heart conditions, and uncontrolled diabetes. … it also works with people dealing with strokes and multiple sclerosis.”

As we said in March, it remains a mystery how a company whose purpose is to help those with disabilities can turn around and fail to accommodate disabled employees, knowing full well that EEOC is carefully watching. Can it be that they know their business well enough but do not know the law?