Sanmina Corporation to Pay $77,500 in EEOC Disability Discrimination Lawsuit

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Sanmina Corporation, a global provider of electronics contract manufacturing services, will pay $77,500 and provide other relief to settle a federal disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

The EEOC's suit charged Sanmina with discriminating against a long-time employee at its Huntsville, Alabama facility who suffered from osteoarthritis and other health conditions. Her conditions made walking across Sanmina's large parking lot, which lacked sufficient accessible parking spaces, difficult and painful.

After allowing employees to work from home for two years, around February 2022, Sanmina required employees to return onsite. The employee requested a reasonable accommodation to continue working remotely to avoid the pain associated with getting in and out of her car and the long walk to the building. Although Sanmina told her she could continue to work from home pending any further consideration of her requested accommodation, the company fired her several months later without notice, because she continued to exercise her reasonable accommodation of working remotely due to her disabilities, the EEOC charged.

"The ADA prohibits firing an employee because of a disability or the need for a reasonable accommodation," said Marsha Rucker, regional attorney for the EEOC's Birmingham District. "Employers cannot avoid the obligation to provide a reasonable accommodation by terminating an employee. The impacted individual in this case will receive compensation, and the EEOC is pleased that Sanmina is taking steps to ensure that this situation does not reoccur in the future."

The conduct alleged in the EEOC's lawsuit violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. After attempting to reach a pre-litigation resolution through its administrative conciliation process, the EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama (EEOC v. Sanmina Corporation, Case No. 5:24-cv-01317-LCB). In addition to monetary relief for the employee, the consent decree settling the suit provides for injunctive relief, including the reviewing of ADA policies, training on the ADA, compliance-related reporting to the EEOC, and posting of a notice in the workplace informing employees of the settlement and of their rights against discrimination.

EEOC District Director Bradley Anderson said, "The ADA requires employers to grant - and allow employees to use - reasonable accommodations that provide equal employment opportunities for workers with disabilities, unless the accommodations would present an undue hardship. The EEOC will continue to pursue justice and hold employers accountable for terminating employees because they have a reasonable accommodation request for their disability."

For more information on disability discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/disability-discrimination.

The EEOC's Birmingham District Office has jurisdiction over Alabama, Mississippi (except 17 northern counties) and the Florida Panhandle.

The EEOC is the sole federal agency authorized to investigate and litigate against businesses and other private sector employers for violations of federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. For public sector employers, the EEOC shares jurisdiction with the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division; the EEOC is responsible for investigating charges against state and local government employers before referring them to DOJ for potential litigation. The EEOC also is responsible for coordinating the federal government's employment antidiscrimination effort. More information is available at www.eeoc.gov. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.