http://www.riskandinsurance.com/story.jsp?storyId=280023982

'Inflexible' WC leave policy leads to record payout for Sears
Sears, Roebuck and Co. recently agreed to pay $6.2 million to settle a 5-year-old lawsuit charging that its workers' compensation leave policy violated federal disability discrimination law.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said the consent decree is the largest Americans with Disabilities Act settlement in a single lawsuit in the agency's history. The case is Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Sears, Roebuck and Co., No. 04 C 7282 (N.D. Ill. consent decree approved 09/29/09).

The EEOC filed the action in 2004, alleging that Sears violated Title I of the ADA by terminating hundreds of employees who had exceeded the retailer's "inflexible" one-year workers' comp leave policy. According to the EEOC, after one year, Sears automatically terminated employees who were on workers' comp leave due to a disability from a work-related injury. It also alleged the company failed to accommodate these employees. According to the EEOC, appropriate accommodations could have included an extension of the one-year leave of absence period or returning the employee to work with an accommodation.