EEOC v. Product Fabricators Inc.
No. 09-CV-2303 (D. Minn. Aug. 31, 2009).
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently filed suit against Product Fabricators Incorporated (“Fabricators”), a Minnesota sheet metal manufacturer, alleging that a company policy requiring employees to disclose their use of prescription and over the counter drugs violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Pls. Compl. at 1, EEOC v. Product Fabricators Inc., No. 09-CV-2303 (D. Minn. Aug. 31, 2009). The lawsuit seeks to enjoin Fabricators from enforcing its policy in the future and seeks to reinstate an employee, Dennis Anderson (“Anderson”), who was allegedly terminated because of the disclosure policy.
Anderson was terminated by Fabricators after missing several days of work due to a back impairment. Id. at 3. The EEOC maintains that “[a]t all relevant times, Mr. Anderson was a qualified individual with a disability within the meaning of the ADA, and could perform the essential functions of the manufacturing position he was removed from.” Id. According to EEOC attorney Nick Pladson, upon disclosing to Fabricators that he was taking low dose Vicodin, Anderson was promptly terminated.
After being terminated, Anderson filed an EEOC complaint. The EEOC’s investigation determined that Anderson had reasonable cause to pursue his claims. Id. at 3. Specifically, the EEOC alleges that “Fabricators violated the ADA by subjecting Anderson to impermissible disability-related inquires that [were] … not job-related or consistent with business necessity” when the company required employees to disclose the names of the prescription drugs they were taking. Id. at 1.
This case will likely reiterate that although the ADA permits employers to inquire into their employees’ illegal drug habits, they are limited in their ability to require employees to disclose the names of legally prescribed prescription drugs. Here, the EEOC alleges that an employer’s medication disclosure policy violates the ADA because it forces employees to reveal their disabilities or their perceived disabilities. While the ADA does not ban all employer inquires regarding prescription drugs, such inquires must be job-related and consistent with a business necessity in order to comply with the ADA. 42 U.S.C. § 12112(b)(6).