Kentucky Fried Chicken Restaurant Sued for Disability Discrimination
Legal news reports that an Atlanta-area Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise is being sued for alleged disability discrimination in violation of the American’s with Disability’s Act (ADA). The ADA prohibits discrimination against “qualified individuals with a disability” in the terms and conditions of employment. The ADA also prohibits disability harassment and retaliation against you for complaining about disability discrimination or for participating in someone else’s disability discrimination case.
To be considered “a qualified individual with a disability,” you must have a medical, physiological, or psychiatric condition that substantially limits a major life activity. Some conditions are fairly well established to constitute a disability from a legal stand point, whereas others may be determined on a case-by-case basis.
The ADA protects these individuals in a couple different ways. First, your employer is required to make an effort to reasonably accommodate your disability. Further, your employer is prohibited from “taking an adverse action against you because you are disabled, because you have a record of a disability, or because it regards you as disabled.” In the recent lawsuit filed against KFC, the plaintiff alleges she was fired for taking bipolar medications. She asserted than she was ordered to flush her medications down the toilet while at work, and when she told her boss that she continued to take the prescription based on her doctor’s orders, she was terminated.
Such actions, if proven, are strong evidence of disability discrimination and contrary to the ADA’s protections.
For more information or if you believe that you have suffered any type of employment discrimination, please contact the experienced Atlanta disability discrimination lawyers at Buckley Bala Wilson Mew LLP for an immediate case evaluation.
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