EEOC Sues Allegiance Health Management for Disability Discrimination

NEW ORLEANS – Allegiance Health Management, Inc., a Bossier City-based health system that operates medical facilities in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, violated federal law by requiring applicants and employees to provide personal disability-related information and by maintaining an inflexible leave policy that did not allow for reasonable accommodation, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit announced today.

The suit arises from a charge of discrimination filed by an environmental technician employed at Byrd Regional Hospital, located in Leesville, Louisiana, and operated by Allegiance. The EEOC said Byrd Hospital subjected the employee to the medical inquiries and fired her while she recovered from a heart attack because she did not qualify for further leave. 

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, Byrd Hospital and Allegiance violated federal law by requiring applicants and employees to provide personal and protected medical information likely to reveal a disability. The lawsuit also alleged that the companies violated federal law by firing employees with disabilities who needed leave beyond what the companies’ internal policies or leave-related law required.

Such alleged conduct violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which forbids employers from making medical inquiries likely to reveal a disability except under limited circumstances and forbids employers from refusing a reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with a disability. The EEOC filed its suit (EEOC v. Allegiance Health Management, Inc., and Byrd Regional Hospital), Civil Action No. 2:25-cv-69 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.

“The ADA protects applicants and workers from having to unnecessarily provide personal health information that could reveal a disability,” said Michael Kirkland, director of the EEOC’s New Orleans Field Office. “The ADA also protects workers with disabilities from being discriminated against due to inflexible policies that do not allow for reasonable accommodation.”

Peter Theis, a senior trial attorney for the EEOC’s New Orleans Field Office, said, “Enforcing worker protections against unlawful medical inquiries and inflexible leave policies is a priority for the EEOC.”  

For more information on disability discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc-disability-related-resources.

The EEOC’s New Orleans Field Office is part of the Houston District Office, which covers Louisiana and parts of Texas.

The EEOC is the sole federal agency authorized to investigate and litigate against businesses and other private sector employers for violations of federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. For public sector employers, the EEOC shares jurisdiction with the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division; the EEOC is responsible for investigating charges against state and local government employers before referring them to DOJ for potential litigation. The EEOC also is responsible for coordinating the federal government’s employment antidiscrimination effort. More information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.