PROVIDENCE – The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued Citizens Bank N.A. in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island for allegedly violating the Americans With Disabilities Act, the commission announced Wednesday.
The EEOC said that call center supervisor William Lescault from Cranston was not provided reasonable accommodation following the development of anxiety and a request to be reassigned to a position that did not require him to field customers’ phone calls. The EEOC said that the company refused to reassign Lescault to multiple vacant positions that he was qualified for and he was forced to take a medical leave of absence.
When Citizens refused to either reassign Lescault or discuss alternative accommodations with him unless he returned to his job in the call center, he was forced to resign, EEOC’s complaint stated.
The EEOC said that it tried to work with Citizens to resolve the situation after Lescault filed a complaint, but the bank did not offer a satisfactory resolution to the commission.
The complaint said that Lescault went on unpaid medical leave due to the anxiety and that a medical professional advised that he not return to work unless fielding customers calls was no longer a vital function to his duties. The suit claims that the anxiety led to chest pains and untreated, could limit “major life activities of concentrating, communicating and interacting with others.”
Lescault was hired at the call center in 2010. His leave leave of medical absence began in March 2018.
The suit said that Citizens denied his requested accommodation, another position, and did not offer specifics for another possible accommodation.
Citizens, it was alleged, “indicated that would not continue to discuss possible accommodations with Lescault unless and until he was released to return to work” at the call center.
The suit demands back pay, punitive damages, and seeks to enforce equal opportunity employment scenarios that accommodate individuals with disabilities.
The EEOC’s New York district director, Kevin Berry, said, “Employers are required to engage in an interactive process with a disabled employee seeking a reasonable accommodation. Refusing to consider possible accommodations, or to propose alternatives, violates the employer’s obligation under the ADA.”
Citizens told PBN that it does not comment on pending litigation.
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor. You may reach him at Bergenheim@PBN.com.
