PTI settles disability lawsuit with EOCC

Aug. 7—BLUEFIELD — Professional Transportation, Inc. (PTI), a transportation company headquartered in Evansville, Ind., with operations throughout the United States, will pay $60,000 to an individual job applicant who was denied part-time employment and furnish significant non-monetary relief to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced Friday.

According to the EEOC's lawsuit, in February 2019, a job applicant recovering from opioid addiction sought a position as a van driver at PTI's Bluefield branch, and PTI subsequently made a conditional job offer to her. However, PTI later rescinded its offer after the job applicant informed the company that she was receiving Suboxone treatment, the EEOC said in a press release. A PTI human resources official reviewed information about the possible safety related side effects of Suboxone and then disqualified the job applicant based on her Suboxone treatment without considering whether she actually experiences any side effects from the medication, the EEOC press release said. The EEOC said the job applicant informed the company that her medication did not affect her driving ability.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits disability discrimination in employment, including disqualifying a disabled worker from a job because the worker is receiving medical treatment for a disability, such as use of prescribed medication, when such treatment does not create a significant risk of substantial harm to the health or safety of the worker or others when the worker is performing the job.

The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia in Bluefield after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. The EEOC and PTI subsequently agreed to early settlement of the lawsuit without any federal court adjudication of liability issues in the case, the press release said.

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