Nursing Home Failed to Comply With Agreement Settling Disability Bias Charge, Federal Agency Says

A Parkton, N.C., nursing home violated a settlement agreement stemming from a disability discrimination charge when it failed to complete the payments that were a condition of the agreement, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a recently filed lawsuit.

According to the EEOC's complaint, Green Manor Rest Home, Inc. entered into a conciliation agreement to resolve a discrimination charge filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In the agreement, Green Manor Rest Home promised to pay $85,876 through six equal monthly payments to a former employee who, the EEOC found, had been discriminated against because of her disability. The company also agreed to various injunctive provisions in the agreement, including training for all employees on the ADA. However, Green Manor Rest Home made only two of the required monthly payments under the conciliation agreement and failed to pay the remaining balance due of $57,250. The company never complied with any of the injunctive provisions in the conciliation agreement, the EEOC said.

The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina (EEOC v. Green Manor Rest Home, Inc., Civil Action No. 7:15-CV-00131) to enforce the conciliation agreement. The EEOC's lawsuit seeks an order requiring Green Manor Rest Home to pay the remaining amounts due under the conciliation agreement and to comply with the other terms of the conciliation agreement.

"When the EEOC enters into a conciliation agreement with a company, the process does not end there," said Lynette A. Barnes, regional attorney for the EEOC's Charlotte District Office, which includes the EEOC's Raleigh Area Office, where the underlying charge was filed. "The EEOC will absolutely seek to enforce any conciliation agreement it reaches, even if that means filing a lawsuit."