Healthcare Compliance Perspective:
All employees in the workplace are responsible for ensuring that the work environment is free of discrimination or harassment due to disability status. If an employee perceives a violation or improper conduct, they are obligated to report to their supervisor, administrator, or compliance officer. If the employee is uncomfortable doing so and would like to report anonymously, they must provide a Compliance and Ethics Hotline providing anonymity and confidentiality.
A California healthcare corporation agreed to pay $325,000 and furnish other relief to settle charges that the company violated the American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA). Since 2012, the EEOC claims the company discriminated against applicants and employees based on their disability, having a record of a disability, or being perceived as having a disability.
The parent company, which operates healthcare and assisted living facilities throughout California’s Central Valley, refused to accommodate employees with disabilities, and would even fire employees because of their disabilities. With respect to persons with disabilities who applied for jobs, the company refused to hire them. It is also alleged that the company withdrew their offers of employment when the applicants had their post offer medical exams and those exams indicated that the potential employee had a record of disability or current medical restrictions. The bottom line according to the EEOC was that the company required employees to be completely free of medical restrictions to work there.
Along with the monetary settlement, there is a two-year consent decree involved with resolving the allegations. It requires the company to retain an ADA and EEO consultant to revise the company’s policies and procedures with respect to disability discrimination, provide discrimination training to the company’s workforce with a focus on disability discrimination and maintain a centralized system to track all accommodation requests and complaints. The EEOC will monitor compliance with the consent decree.
Since Medicare began covering home sleep testing in 2009, this company has allegedly received nearly $9 million from Medicare, almost all of it the result of fraud and kickbacks.
