Benefits May 12, 2009

Hospital Accused of Firing Employee for Having Cancer

May 12, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A Pittsburgh hospital charged with firing an employee because she had cancer has agreed to pay $100,000 and furnish other equitable relief to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
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According to an EEOC press release, the lawsuit against LifeCare Hospitals of Pittsburgh, Inc. said former business manager Diana Altieri-Hand needed a reasonable accommodation for her disability after she had surgery for cancer and underwent chemotherapy. LifeCare Hospitals of Pittsburgh, a free-standing hospital facility managed or operated by LifeCare Management Services, LLC, initially provided a reasonable accommodation to her.

However, according to the EEOC, in about August 2007 the regional director of finance suddenly stopped accommodating Altieri-Hand’s disability and demanded that she return to work full-time with no restrictions. After Altieri-Hand returned to work full time, the supervisor discriminated against her because of her disability, including substantially increasing her workload, removing her full-time staff assistant, and subjecting her to unwarranted work scrutiny.

Altieri-Hand was a longstanding employee of LifeCare Hospitals of Pittsburgh or its predecessor and had a good performance record, the press release said.

Finally, the EEOC charged, the hospital fired Altieri-Hand because of her disability.

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