A federal jury awarded $405,083 to a veteran in a disability discrimination case against a St. Petersburg, Fla. senior living facility and its operating companies, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced.
According to the EEOC’s suit, The Princess Martha, the senior living facility managed by TJM Property Management and TJM Properties Inc., violated federal law when they denied a reasonable accommodation and refused to hire a veteran who applied for a job.
The EEOC presented evidence at trial showing that the applicant disclosed to The Princess Martha’s hiring manager that she is a veteran with post-traumatic stress syndrome and took medication to treat the condition, which would cause a drug test to fail.
Thereafter, the applicant took the required drug test and made repeated attempts to provide proof of her legally prescribed medications, but The Princess Martha made no attempts to accommodate her and revoked her job offer. At trial, a top management official admitted that The Princess Martha submitted false information to the EEOC.
Such alleged conduct violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The EEOC filed its suit (EEOC v. Princess Martha, LLC, et al., Civil Action No 8:22-cv-2181-CEH-TGW) in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.
The Tampa jury of eight returned a unanimous verdict finding that the applicant had a disability, disclosed the disability to The Princess Martha, and that the facility refused to accommodate her in the application process. The jury awarded $5,083 in back pay, $50,000 in compensatory damages, and $350,000 in punitive damages. The jury also found that the two other defendants, the TJM entities, were integrated enterprises with The Princess Martha.
Source: EEOC
Topics
Florida
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