Third-party leave administrator allegedly closed accommodation claim without supervisor's knowledge
JC Penney faces federal allegations that it fired a cancer patient after a third-party vendor inexplicably shut down her request for medical leave.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit November 17 against Penney OpCo LLC, claiming the retailer's leave administration process broke down so badly that a warehouse worker undergoing chemotherapy never got the accommodation she requested and was terminated for missing work during treatment.
Angela Grier started at a JC Penney logistics center in Georgia on or about September 29, 2022, pulling products from shelves for packing and shipping. In or about April 2023, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
When Grier began chemotherapy the following month, she did what her employer's policy told her to do: contacted the company's third-party leave administrator and requested intermittent time off for treatment and recovery. The administrator sent her the proper forms. Her doctor filled them out, documenting her breast cancer diagnosis and noting she would need two days for three chemotherapy appointments each month, plus three episodes related to her condition per month lasting up to two days per episode. The doctor indicated the duration would run from May 1, 2023, through November 30, 2023.
Then, according to the EEOC, something went wrong. The third-party administrator closed Grier's accommodation request without ever presenting it to her supervisor for approval. The filing says her supervisor was never contacted, even though she later stated covering Grier's absences would have been routine—she used other employees to cover shifts when anyone was out, which was her common practice.
The breakdown left Grier in a difficult position. JC Penney uses a points-based attendance system that tracks absences, late arrivals and early departures. Employees who accumulate six or more points during a rolling 26-week period risk termination. But the company's own policies state that absences will not result in points if the employee is protected by law, such as when granted an accommodation under the ADA.
Without an approved accommodation, Grier began accruing points when she missed work for chemotherapy appointments and recovery. On or about June 26, 2023, her supervisor approached her to discuss her attendance. Grier told her supervisor she had cancer and the only reason she was missing work was to receive treatment and recover from that treatment, but the conversation ended without any discussion of accommodations, according to the filing.
On June 30, 2023, Grier missed work the day after one of her chemotherapy appointments. Three days later, on July 3, she was fired. The company said she had accumulated 9.5 points. The EEOC alleges at least nine of those points came from cancer-related absences that should not have counted if the accommodation had been granted.
The case highlights a problem for human resources departments: what happens when employers outsource leave administration but remain legally responsible for the outcome. The EEOC's filing notes that Penney directed employees to contact the third-party administrator for accommodation requests, making the vendor the company's agent.
The commission is seeking back pay with pre-judgment interest, compensatory damages and punitive damages. It alleges Penney failed to accommodate Grier's disability, discriminated against her because of her cancer, and retaliated against her for requesting an accommodation. The filing describes the company's conduct as malicious or recklessly indifferent to her federally protected rights.
Penney has not yet responded to the allegations. No determination has been made on the merits of the case.
