On June 30, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sued arts-and-crafts retailer Hobby Lobby for refusing to reasonably accommodate and then firing an employee with multiple mental health conditions who requested the use of a service dog.
On Oct. 3, 2020, a part-time clerk at a Hobby Lobby store in Olathe, Kan., advised her manager that she needed to bring her fully trained service dog to work to alleviate her symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression, according to the lawsuit.
After submitting a letter from her mental health provider, the worker met with Hobby Lobby's HR representative to discuss her request. But the company concluded that the dog would present a safety concern because a colleague or customer might be allergic to the dog or trip over it, or the animal might break something.
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