Louisiana Car Dealer to Pay $100K Disability Discrimination Settlement

Hollingsworth Richards, LLC, a Louisiana car dealer doing business as Honda of Covington, has agreed to pay a former sales representative $100,000 to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Hollingsworth Richards operates vehicle and equipment dealerships in Covington, Louisiana. The lawsuit was resolved through a consent decree, which U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman approved on January 4, 2022.

In its lawsuit, the EEOC alleged that Hollingsworth Richards discharged the sales representative after subjecting her to unlawful inquiries and to an unlawful medical examination in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. When Hollingsworth Richards hired her, the sales representative disclosed that she had Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and that she was taking medication to treat her ADHD under the supervision of a healthcare provider.

The EEOC alleged that an operations manager later told her to stop taking her medication and then ordered her to take a drug test. It alleged that Hollingsworth Richards, LLC then discharged the sales representative before receiving the confirmed results from that test.

The EEOC filed its suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in 2020 after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its voluntary conciliation process. Under the three-year consent decree, Hollingsworth Richards will pay the sales representative $100,000 in backpay and damages, and also conduct training, revise policies, provide regular reports to the EEOC, and post a notice that affirms its obligations under the ADA and states that employees can report violations to the EEOC.

Source: EEOC

Topics Auto Louisiana