Two senior living operators recently entered settlement agreements after discrimination complaints were filed alleging age and disability discrimination or violations of immigration laws.
In one case, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced a $78,000 discrimination lawsuit settlement with Covenant Woods Senior Living and BrightSpace Senior Living, which operate a continuing care retirement / life plan community in Columbus, GA.
The operators agreed to the age and disability discrimination lawsuit settlement due to the cost of litigation, Brightspace CFO Brian Hendricks told McKnight’s Senior Living.
“We do not admit wrongdoing or discriminatory conduct as part of this resolution,” Hendricks said. “Covenant Woods and BrightsSpace Senior Living remain committed to compliance with all discrimination and labor employment laws.”
The lawsuit, filed in 2022, alleged that Covenant Woods, a personal care and independent living community, fired a 14-year employee after the employee briefly was hospitalized. The woman, who was recognized as an employee of the year in January 2022, was replaced by a “significantly younger employee,” according to the lawsuit.
The EEOC filed the suit in US District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, alleging that the community violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“Employers have a responsibility to evaluate an employee’s performance without regard to age, if the employee is 40 and over, and without regard to an actual or perceived disability,” Marcus. G. Keegan, EEOC Atlanta District Office regional attorney, said in a statement. “The EEOC is pleased that through this early resolution, the former receptionist will be compensated, and that Covenant Woods has agreed to take steps to ensure that it meets its obligations under the ADEA and the ADA going forward.”
As part of the resolution of the lawsuit, the company has agreed to provide monetary relief to the victim, revise its ADEA and ADA policies, post a notice in the workplace informing employees of the settlement, and train all employees and supervisors on their rights and responsibilities under both the ADEA and the ADA. Additionally, the company agreed to provide the EEOC with periodic reports regarding any future complaints of age or disability discrimination, including a description of each employee’s allegations and the company’s response. The consent decree lasts for two years.
Immigration paperwork misstep leads to settlement
In another case, Sunrise Senior Living Management entered a settlement agreement with the US Department of Justice following a determination that one of the company’s communities violated the Immigration and Nationality Act by, when checking whether a worker who had been granted asylum had ongoing permission to work, it discriminated against her.
An investigation by the DOJ Civil Rights Division’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section concluded that Sunrise at Fox Hill, a Bethesda, MD, assisted living and memory care community, discriminated against the worker by rejecting the valid document she provided and by unnecessarily demanding a different immigration document to prove that she could continue working in the United States. When the worker failed to provide that document, Sunrise placed the employee on indefinite unpaid administrative leave, according to the Justice Department.
Federal law allows workers to choose which legally acceptable documentation to provide to verify their identity and permission to work, regardless of citizenship, immigration status or national origin, according to the DOJ. Employers cannot demand more documents than are necessary, nor can they specify the documentation they prefer as part of the process.
Under the settlement agreement announced Tuesday, Sunrise will pay a $6,362 civil penalty, train its human resources staff members on the INA’s requirements, and be subject to monitoring. Sunrise previously removed the worker from indefinite unpaid leave and paid her lost wages.
