EEOC Sues Princeton HealthCare Over Disability Bias Claims
Author: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Published: 2010/08/14 - Updated: 2026/05/18
Publication Type: Announcement
Contents: Synopsis - Definition - Introduction - Main - Insights, Updates - Related Publications
Synopsis: This report covers a federal lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against Princeton HealthCare System in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, alleging that the hospital operator violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by enforcing rigid leave policies and firing more than a dozen employees with disabilities who requested medical leave as a reasonable accommodation. The filing centers on Princeton HealthCare's practice of terminating workers who could not return within seven days when ineligible for Family Medical Leave Act protection and refusing to extend leave beyond the FMLA's twelve-week limit, even when additional time would have been a reasonable accommodation. Direct statements from EEOC officials and trial counsel make this a useful primary-source reference for employees with disabilities, seniors, caregivers, human resources professionals, and advocates seeking clarity on how blanket leave rules intersect with ADA obligations.
- Topic Definition: Disability Discrimination in Employment
Disability discrimination in employment is the unfavorable treatment of a job applicant or employee because of a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a record of such an impairment, or being regarded as having one. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, covered employers are prohibited from discriminating in hiring, firing, promotion, pay, training, benefits, and other terms of employment, and are required to provide reasonable accommodations - such as modified schedules, adjusted duties, assistive technology, or extended medical leave - to qualified individuals with disabilities unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the business. Discrimination can take the form of overt adverse action or the rigid application of neutral policies, such as fixed maximum leave limits, that fail to account for the accommodation needs of workers with disabilities.
Introduction
EEOC Sues Princeton Healthcare System for Disability Discrimination
Princeton HealthCare System, which operates a hospital and provides other health care services, violated federal law by failing to reasonably accommodate the needs of its employees who needed medical leave, and then firing them because of their disabilities, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed.
Main Content
According to the EEOC's suit, Princeton HealthCare System enforces leave policies that do not provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with a disability. Princeton HealthCare fires employees who are not qualified for leave under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) if they cannot return to work within seven days, and refuses to grant leave beyond the 12 weeks allowed by the FMLA. Princeton HealthCare System does not grant exceptions to these policies for qualified individuals with disabilities who need additional leave as a reasonable accommodation.
Such alleged conduct violates the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), which requires that employers must provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities unless it would cause an undue hardship to the employer. A leave of absence is a form of reasonable accommodation.
More than a dozen employees with disabilities who requested a leave of absence as a reasonable accommodation were denied leave and were fired by Princeton HealthCare. The EEOC filed suit ( EEOC v. Princeton HealthCare System ) in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.
"The goal of the ADA is to provide equal employment opportunities for qualified individuals with disabilities," said Spencer H. Lewis, Jr., director of the EEOC's New York District Office. "The unfortunate reality is that too many companies discriminate against persons with disabilities by strictly applying blanket leave policies."
Rosemary DiSavino, the EEOC trial attorney who will be litigating this case, said:
"This lawsuit sends a message to employers that inflexible leave policies which ignore reasonable accommodations that will make it possible to get employees back on the job are illegal. The EEOC will seek full relief for qualified employees with disabilities who are harmed by the application of these types of policies."
Princeton HealthCare System operates University Medical Center at Princeton and related health care facilities in Mercer County. The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting discrimination in employment.
Insights, Analysis, and Developments
Editorial Note: Cases like this one matter because they translate the ADA's language about reasonable accommodation into concrete workplace expectations that human resources departments cannot quietly ignore. A leave of absence beyond what FMLA mandates can itself be the accommodation that keeps a qualified worker employed, and employers who treat the twelve-week mark as an automatic termination trigger risk substituting policy convenience for the individualized analysis the law actually requires. For employees managing cancer treatment, surgical recovery, mental health conditions, or progressive disabilities, the outcome of suits like this one helps shape whether a temporary medical setback ends a career or simply pauses it.Attribution/Source(s): This quality-reviewed publication was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World (DW) due to its relevance to the disability community. Originally authored by U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and published on 2010/08/14, this content may have been edited for style, clarity, or brevity.