Dotty’s operator Awakens disability discrimination lawsuit

The operator behind the Dotty’s chain of slot machine parlors spread across Montana and Nevada has reportedly agreed to pay a $3.5 million settlement in order to resolve a lawsuit that alleged it had discriminated against disabled employees.

According to a Wednesday report from the Associated Press news service published by the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper, some of the cash from Nevada Restaurant Services Incorporated is to be used to compensate wrongly terminated workers while the operator has also agreed to conduct additional disability training and submit regular statements over the next three and a half years verifying that it is in compliance with the settlement.

The Associated Press reported that the lawsuit was filed earlier this year by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission amid allegations that the firm behind over 30 Dotty’s venues had been breaching the Americans With Disabilities Act since 2012. The action contended that Nevada Restaurant Services Incorporated had illegally fired or forced workers to resign because they were or had been disabled or were associated with someone with a disability.

The complaint also reportedly maintained that the corporation had unlawfully instituted a company-wide policy that denied reasonable accommodations to its disabled employees and had required workers with a disability or medical condition to be fully-healed before being allowed to return to work.

Wendy Martin, Director for the Las Vegas branch of the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, told the Associated Press that her office had filed the grievance as part of its ongoing ‘quest to identify and eradicate systemic disability discrimination.’

“Systemic disability discrimination is still all too prevalent,” Anna Park, an attorney for the Los Angeles office of commission reportedly told the Associated Press. “Besides regularly examining established practices and ensuring that staff is adequately trained, employers must also ensure their decision-makers follow through on that training by holding them accountable to complying with the Americans With Disabilities Act.”

The Associated Press reported that the settlement had been signed by Paula Graziano, the company’s president, before being approved by Judge James Mahan from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada on Tuesday.

A lawyer for the operator, Jackson Lewis, told the news service that the Las Vegas-based firm does not tolerate or condone any type of discrimination and will now continue its ‘deeply held commitment’ to investing in employees and its host communities ‘rather than focus on costly litigation’.