BELLINGHAM, Wash. — A Bellingham construction company is expected to pay $100,000 and train employees in anti-discrimination to settle a federal disability discrimination lawsuit.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced the settlement Tuesday with the former Diamond B Constructors Inc. and its successor Harris Companies.
Angela Watson came to work on a project with Diamond B as a pipefitter and told her direct supervisor she had epilepsy.
EEOC says her supervisors unilaterally decided she couldn’t safely work at heights and fired her, even though her epilepsy was under control with medication and she had no medical restrictions.
The EEOC senior trial attorney said firing someone over “assumptions about conditions… strikes at the heart of the ADA.”