DENIED JOB TO APPLICANT WITH ANXIETY & OPIOID USE DISORDER
The Modern Group, Ltd., an industrial manufacturing and service company, along with one of its subsidiaries, Dragon Rig Sales and Services, were sued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for disability discrimination.
The companies are alleged to have denied employment to an individual who suffered from anxiety and opioid use disorder and needed prescribed medications to treat those conditions. While he passed a required drug screen, the company withdrew an offer of employment after it learned of his medical needs.
Believing that such conduct violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, as amended, the EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Dragon Rig Sales and Service, LLC and The Modern Group, Ltd., Case No. 1:21-CV-451) in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, seeking monetary damages and injunctive relief.
By way of a press release dated May 15, 2024, a settlement was announced wherein the companies agreed to pay $35,000 to the impacted individual and will modify its employment and training related practices.
In a written statement, Rudy Sustaita, the EEOC’s regional attorney in Houston, noted that “If your opioid use is legal and not prohibited by another federal law, an employer cannot automatically disqualify you on that basis, or because of the medications used to treat OUD, without considering whether there is a way for you to do your job safely and effectively.”
While Connie Gatlin, the lead trial attorney for the case added, “If you are taking an opioid medication as directed in a medically assisted therapy (MAT) program, then you have a valid prescription. You cannot be denied employment or fired from a job because you are in a MAT program unless you cannot do the job safely and effectively or you are disqualified under another federal law.”
That struck us as a modern-day fiasco.
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