The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission settled a disability discrimination lawsuit against National Jewish Medical and Research Center for $150,000 on Tuesday.
The lawsuit claimed the hospital rescinded Dorothy Barrett-Taylor’s job offer because she had latent tuberculosis, a non-contagious form.
According to the EEOC, National Jewish violated the Americans With Disabilities Act by rescinding the offer based on unreasonable fears and by misusing medical information obtained in pre-employment screening.
The EEOC says the hospital did not follow its own procedures, which require a chest X-ray to determine if the person has any active contagious form of TB.
Instead of giving Barrett-Taylor a chest X-ray, she was told to obtain her own medical records and she produced a letter from Denver Health clearing her of active tuberculosis.
But National Jewish told Barrett-Taylor her documents were insufficient and told her she would need an additional examination, but refused to allow her to be examined by its own medical personnel, even after she offered to pay for the exam.
At her own expense, Barrett-Taylor then obtained a chest X-ray to demonstrate that she did not have any contagious form of TB. The hospital’s human resource staff still refused to allow her to work.
A consent decree resolving the suit was entered late Monday by U.S. District Judge Lewis T. Babcock. In addition to the monetary damages, the decree says National Jewish must conduct training for its managers about the ADA and the hospital’s pre-employment medical screening process.
