Dive Brief:
- The Carlstar Group, a maker of specialty tires and wheels based in Franklin, Tennessee, will pay $300,000 to settle U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charges that it discriminated against workers with disabilities (EEOC v. The Carlstar Group).
- According to EEOC, the company denied opportunities to workers after learning they were taking certain prescription medications, including opioids, for the treatment of disabilities. This was the case even when workers were medically cleared to perform their job duties, EEOC said.
- “Federal law provides protections for disabled employees who lawfully take prescription medication for qualifying disabilities,” Andrea Baran, regional attorney for EEOC’s St. Louis office, affirmed in an agency statement.
Dive Insight:
In addition to paying $300,000 in total to five affected employees, Carlstar’s five-year consent decree stipulates the company will modify its policies and procedures to ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act; include in its policies several clear statements related to individuals’ rights to treat disabilities with lawful prescription medications; require approval from its highest corporate HR official before denying an accommodation to or placing on leave a worker using a prescription medication to treat a disability; and more.
Workers who take prescription drugs under the supervision of a licensed healthcare professional are generally protected under the ADA, a 2022 guidance from the U.S. Department of Justice has clarified. This includes medications for opioid use disorder — like methadone, buprenorphine or naltrexone — which have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for OUD treatment.
Opioids are also prescribed for a variety of conditions that come with severe or chronic pain, including arthritis, cerebral palsy, cancer and injuries. According to EEOC’s complaint, Carlstar workers who allegedly experienced discrimination were prescribed opioids to treat long-term back and neck injuries.
“Compliance with the ADA requires more than a one-size-fits-all approach,” David Davis, district director of EEOC’s St. Louis district office, said in a statement. “Employers must individually assess such employees to determine whether they can safely perform their job duties while taking the medication.”
Kathryn Russo, principal at law firm Jackson Lewis, in a 2022 article similarly cautioned employers to use a case-by-case approach in dealing with prescription medications — even in safety-sensitive roles.
“For safety-sensitive jobs, the manufacturer also must conduct the ‘direct threat analysis,’ which is an assessment of whether the applicant or employee’s use of the medication would create ‘a significant risk of substantial harm’ to himself or others,” she wrote. “These discussions and assessments can be difficult.”
Carlstar did not respond to a request for comment by press time.