Company Fired Employee for Participating in Treatment for Drug Addiction
Foothills Child Development Center was found to have violated federal law under the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) when it terminated employee Leon Dabrowski, after he disclosed his participation in a supervised medication-assisted treatment (MAT) program.
The afterschool teacher was hired to work at the Easley, S.C., facility, but was fired just 30 minutes into his first day of employment due to the use of Suboxone (an opiod dependence treatment). Foothills is required to pay Dabrowski $5,000 and also has entered into a five-year consent decree, which requires the company to amend its written drug use policy to include a clear and specific exclusion to the policy for individuals who use legally-obtained prescription medication in a lawfully prescribed manner.