Director says HR reached out on his inactive work phone, then warned him to respond
A former senior Darden Restaurants leader says the company shut him out instead of accommodating his disabilities - and is now suing under federal law.
Ryan McDonald, a former director of operations who oversaw multiple restaurant locations, filed suit on May 4, 2026, in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. He brings three claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act: failure to accommodate, disability discrimination, and retaliation.
McDonald says he hurt his back and neck in July 2024 while performing work-related duties at his supervisor's direction. He also had pre-existing conditions, including prior hip replacements and back surgeries. In November 2024, he requested reasonable accommodations through appropriate channels, including email.
The complaint alleges Darden never engaged in a meaningful, good-faith interactive process - the back-and-forth between employer and employee that the ADA requires when working out how a person with a disability can keep doing the job. Instead, the filing says, the company's disability-management staff steered him toward long-term disability benefits.
For HR leaders, the case reads as a study in how an interactive process can go off the rails.
McDonald says the senior vice president of human resources, Teresa Willings, told him a representative, Wanda Colon, would be in touch. A month later, he received certified mail dated on or about December 12, 2024, warning that the company had attempted to contact him multiple times and that further silence would result in termination. According to the filing, those attempts went primarily to his company-issued phone, which was not active while he was on medical leave - even though his personal number was on file in Darden's PeopleSoft system.
The EEOC charge attached to the complaint adds more. McDonald says HR contacted him after his accommodation request and told him they "heard" he would be out for an extended period, then suggested he apply for long-term disability. He also alleges that on the same day he raised accommodations with his supervisor, a general manager told him the supervisor had already informed the Director of Operations covering his region that McDonald would be out long-term - before any conversation about his return.
The EEOC charge says Darden restructured his territory on or about April 14, 2025, removing closer restaurants and adding ones farther away. McDonald alleges that change increased his commute time by roughly 70%. He also says the company set a return-to-work deadline immediately before the earliest date he could have been medically cleared. He was terminated on May 25, 2025, after not being cleared to return by May 26, 2025.
The EEOC closed its administrative review without making findings on the merits and issued a Notice of Right to Sue on February 17, 2026.
McDonald is seeking back pay and lost wages, lost benefits, compensatory damages for emotional distress, punitive damages, and attorney's fees. He is representing himself and has demanded a jury trial.
The allegations have not been tested in court. Darden Restaurants has not yet filed a response, and no judge has ruled.
