Verizon Will Pay $20M to Settle Maryland Discrimination Suit

Verizon will pay $20 million to resolve a lawsuit over its treatment of disabled employees who missed work as a result of their disabilities.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced the settlement Wednesday. In the lawsuit filed in Maryland, the EEOC said Verizon unlawfully denied reasonable accommodations to hundreds of employees who had to miss work because of a disability. The EEOC said the company violated the Americas With Disabilities Act by not accommodating disabled employees, disciplining or firing them instead.

The EEOC said in a statement that the settlement is the single largest disability discrimination settlement in EEOC history. Verizon will also change its absence policy.

Verizon said in a statement that it decided to settle solely because it was in the company’s interest to avoid litigation.