It started with a pretty basic request: a cashier, newly hired at a Kroger in Atlanta’s Edgewood retail district, asked to sit on a stool or chair during her shifts. She wasn’t asking for special treatment. She said she needed it because breast cancer treatment had left her with permanent nerve damage in her lower extremities, and she backed it up with medical documentation.
What happened next, though, didn’t look like a normal back-and-forth over workplace accommodations. In a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency said the store stopped scheduling her entirely after she asked to sit, then ignored her repeated calls. Kroger ultimately agreed to pay $75,000 and change some internal practices to settle the case, as described in the EEOC’s press release.
A routine accommodation request turned into silence
According to the EEOC, the employee was a breast cancer survivor whose treatment caused lasting nerve damage in her legs. She was hired as a cashier, a job that typically involves long stretches on your feet, and “shortly thereafter” asked for a stool or chair so she could work while seated.
The agency says she provided medical documentation to support the request. That part matters, because it shows she wasn’t just casually asking to bend a rule—she was telling the store she had a disability-related need and could document it…