In December 2013, the EEOC brought this lawsuit against Children's Hospital and Research Center in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In this case, an employee of the Children's Hospital and Research Center suffered breast cancer and could not perform the daily tasks of caring for herself because she was weakened from her impairment and its treatment.

The plaintiff initially took a two month medical leave of absence in January 2012 and sought to extend the medical leave three times to undergo treatment for her disability, including a double mastectomy, reconstruction surgery for each breast and removal of her fallopian tubes, ovaries and uterus. In July 2012, the hospital rejected her doctor's medical certification, which stated that the employee was still recuperating from surgery but could return to work in September 2012. The hospital denied any further medical leave and fired her as an office assistant because they thought that she would not be able to return to work by September 2012. The EEOC requested (a) a permanent injunction enjoining the Children's Hospital and Research Center from terminating employment because of a disability, and engaging in other employment practices that discriminate against an employee on the basis of disability; (b) an order for the Children's Hospital and Research Center to institute and carry out policies, practices and programs prohibiting discrimination; (c) an order for the Children's Hospital and Research Center to provide backpay and compensation to the discharged employee; and (d) punitive damages.

On August 14, 2014, Judge Edward M. Chen approved a joint stipulation by the parties to refer the case to private mediation. On February 10, 2015, Judge Chen approved a joint proposed consent decree. The consent decree provided for both general and specific injunctive relief, including enjoining the Children’s Hospital from unlawfully discriminating against any employee due to his or her disability, requiring the Hospital to make reasonable accommodations for disabled employees as required by law, and having the Hospital revise its employee and supervisor ADA training. For the specific terminated employee, the Hospital was required to provide her with a neutral reference for her future employers and pay $300,000 in monetary relief. Each side agreed to bear its own attorneys’ fees and costs.

The court maintained jurisdiction over the consent decree for three years. It terminated in 2018 without any further litigation, and the cases is now closed.

Kowa Takata - 10/15/2014
Lisa Limb - 03/20/2018


compress summary