Critical Shifts:
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The Core Violation: The EEOC has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that O’Reilly Auto Parts violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by refusing to accommodate a disabled employee and terminating them instead.
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The Accommodation Request: Following a stroke and subsequent seizures that barred him from driving commercial trucks for five years, a veteran driver employed since 2015 requested a transfer to an open, non-driving role at a Michigan distribution center.
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Policy Over Law: Although the employee was fully qualified for several available positions, O'Reilly allegedly denied the transfer and fired him based on an internal company policy that strictly banned drivers from reassigning to distribution centers.
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Sought Damages: The EEOC took legal action after pre-litigation settlement attempts failed; the agency is now seeking back pay, compensatory damages, punitive damages, and a permanent injunction to prevent future workplace discrimination.
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O’Reilly Auto Parts, with more than 6,500 stores throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Canada, violated federal law by failing to reasonably accommodate a disabled employee at its Belleville, Mich., distribution center and fired him instead, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit announced June 23.
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, O’Reilly hired an employee as a commercial truck driver in 2015. In the summer of 2022, he had a stroke and multiple seizures and was hospitalized in an intensive care unit. The employee was on an approved leave of absence until February 2023.
Towards the end of his leave, after he was advised that he could not drive a commercial vehicle for five years, he requested a reasonable accommodation in the form of reassignment to a non-driving position at an O’Reilly’s distribution center. Although he qualified for multiple open and available positions, O’Reilly refused to offer him one of the positions pursuant to a policy which prohibited drivers from being reassigned to distribution centers. Instead, O’Reilly terminated him, the suit said.
“Employers are required under federal law to make reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities, absent undue hardship, including reassignment to an open position,” said Kenneth Bird, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Indianapolis District. “O’Reilly’s refusal to reassign this employee to an open non-driving position violated the law, and the EEOC will continue to fight disability discrimination.”
Such alleged conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits discrimination based on disability. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. O’Reilly Auto Enterprises, L.L.C., dba O’Reilly Auto Parts, Case No. 2:26-cv-12098) in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process. The EEOC is seeking back pay, compensatory damages and punitive damages on behalf of the former employee, as well as injunctive relief to prevent future discrimination.
