Sutter Roseville Medical Center had a decision in front of it. A staff nurse with a disability had asked her managers for an accommodation, and a lateral move into a position that was already open was one way to give her one. Federal investigators concluded the hospital would not consider any accommodation at all and ended her employment instead. That decision has now been resolved with a $200,000 payment.
The vacancy the medical center would not look at
In April 2023, a staff nurse formerly employed by Sutter Roseville filed a charge of discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Her allegation was narrow: she had been discharged after her managers refused to provide her with a reasonable accommodation for her disability.
The agency investigated and found evidence confirming that “rather than provide her with the reasonable accommodation of a lateral reassignment to an open position, Sutter Roseville refused to consider any accommodation, and instead terminated her because of her disability,” the EEOC said in announcing the resolution on July 28, 2026. Sutter Roseville Medical Center is part of the Sutter Health network of hospitals, clinics and specialty care facilities, and it is the Roseville facility that entered the agreement.
The words worth sitting with are “an open position.” Nobody in this case was asking an employer to invent a job or absorb an expensive hardship. The vacancy already existed. What the investigation found is that the employer would not even look at it.
Why reassignment is called a last-resort accommodation
“Reasonable accommodations, including ‘last resort’ accommodations such as reassignment to another vacant position, are required by law to be provided to qualified individuals with disabilities,” said Christopher Green, director of the EEOC’s San Francisco District…