NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — A federal lawsuit was settled regarding discrimination against an employee with a heart condition at Virginia International Terminals, LLC (VIT) in Norfolk.

VIT agreed to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The company will pay $20,000 in monetary damages and adjust business practices to further comply with the American Disabilities Act (ADA).

According to the lawsuit, a hustler truck driver at the VIT-operated Norfolk International Terminals was hospitalized following a cardiac event and received an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator.

The EEOC alleged that VIT violated federal ADA laws against discrimination after refusing to allow the employee to return to work, offering lower-paying work with fewer hours, and assuming the employee posed a safety risk by imposing restrictions which would exclude him from certain jobs.

Despite the employee receiving a medical release after the procedure, the workplace assumed safety risk without conducting an analysis to determine if the employee could return to work safely.

“Where there is a legitimate safety risk, employers should always look to the most recent advancements in medicine and safety technologies to determine whether the risk can be reduced or eliminated by reasonable accommodation,” said Melinda C. Dugas, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Charlotte District.

The three-year consent decree, an agreement resolving the dispute, requires VIT to update policies to comply with the ADA by ensuring proper direct threat analysis for employees with disabilities, train key personnel, and submit compliance reports to the EEOC periodically.