JES Personnel Consultants, Inc., doing business as Genie Temporary Service in Illinois, will pay $80,000 to a client who was denied work because of his epilepsy, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently announced.

According to the EEOC, the client was assigned through Genie’s LaSalle office to work at Clover Technologies Group, LLC, unpacking and sorting ink cartridges, where he suffered a brief epileptic seizure on his first day of work. Clover reportedly allowed him to work the rest of the day, but asked him to provide a doctor’s note to return to work after that. The worker gave the note to Genie the next day. Although Genie neither advised him that the note was inadequate nor forwarded the note to Clover, the employee was not permitted to return and was effectively terminated.

The consent decree settling EEOC’s lawsuit requires JES to pay $80,000 to the worker and his attorney, but JES advised the court that it was going out of business. The decree therefore provides that if JES, or its president and owner, reestablishes an employment agency, it will adopt a policy to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

EEOC Supervisory Attorney Gregory Gochanour said, “Employment agencies need to promptly advise their employees if they conclude that a medical authorization does not present sufficient evidence that the employee is qualified to work. That would then allow the employee to seek further information from his or her doctor.”