RALEIGH, N.C. — Butterball, LLC will pay $230,000 and take additional steps to resolve a federal disability discrimination lawsuit involving an employee at its Mount Olive operations, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The EEOC announced the settlement Wednesday, saying its lawsuit alleged Butterball failed to accommodate a longtime employee who needed intermittent leave for cancer treatments and later terminated her under the company’s attendance policy.
According to the EEOC, the employee informed Butterball of her cancer diagnosis and her need for intermittent leave to undergo chemotherapy and recover from the treatments.
The agency alleged Butterball referred the employee to a third-party benefits administrator, but the requested leave was never granted. The employee subsequently accumulated attendance points for absences related to her cancer treatments and was fired for violating the company’s attendance policy, according to the EEOC.
The EEOC alleged that the company’s actions violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits disability discrimination and requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified employees with disabilities unless doing so would create an undue hardship.
“Employers that hire third-party benefits administrators must ensure that effective policies and procedures are in place to meet the employer’s statutory obligations under federal workplace discrimination laws,” said Melinda C. Dugas, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Charlotte District. “An employer cannot delegate its responsibility for complying with the ADA.”
The EEOC filed the lawsuit, EEOC v. Butterball, LLC, Case No. 5:26-cv-00202-FL, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina after the agency said efforts to reach a settlement through its administrative conciliation process were unsuccessful.
The case is being resolved through a two-year consent decree.
In addition to the $230,000 payment, Butterball will be required to ensure policies and procedures are in place for receiving and processing requests for reasonable accommodations under the ADA.
The company will also provide leave policies to employees in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole and designate a liaison to help employees communicate and submit requests or claims involving a third-party administrator.
The consent decree also requires ADA training for human resources and benefits employees and periodic reports to the EEOC.
“Federal law guarantees qualified individuals with disabilities an equal opportunity to work,” said Samuel Williams, a trial attorney for the EEOC’s Charlotte District. “The EEOC is committed to holding employers accountable when they violate those rights and pursuing all appropriate relief for victims of discrimination.”
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