Auto Zone v. EEOC - case questions PDF

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Running head: EEOC V. AUTOZONE

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Case Questions EEOC v. AutoZone Laura Hood

EEOC V. AUTOZONE

2 EEOC v. AutoZone

1. What were the legal issues in this case? What did the court decide? The legal issues in this case was Auto Zones lack of accommodation for the disability of Mr. Shepard, and the fact that they worsened his condition from repeated denial for his accommodation. The court decided that Mr. Shepard did in fact have a disability and that Auto Zone to not provide the accommodation for this disability. 2. What are compensatory damages? Why did the appeals court uphold the compensatory damages awarded to the plaintiff? The compensatory damages were $100,000 and $115,000 in back pay. With the evidence presented the damages were not seen to be overly excessive. The damages were also with in the ratio of an acceptable value. 3. . What are punitive damages? Why did the appeals court uphold the awarding of punitive damages in this case? Why was the amount of punitive damages deemed not constitutionally excessive? The punitive damages were $500,000 against AutoZone but the magistrate judge reduced the punitive damages to $200,000 to comply with a statutory cap. Again, they felt that the evidence presented showed that AutoZone was in the wrong. The appeals court also felt that the punitive damages in this case were not outlandish, and within the statutory cap set forth by Congress. 4. What is injunctive relief? What was the employer ordered to do? Why was the first injunction “remanded” to the trail court? Injunctive relief is a legal remedy to a problem in a case. AutoZone was ordered to comply with reasonable accommodation requirements set forth by the ADA for employees. They were also ordered to notify the EEOC of any employees who request an accommodation within the next three years. Finally, AutoZone was asked to maintain complete records to all accommodation requests. The First

EEOC V. AUTOZONE

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injunction was remanded to the trail court because, there needed to be a reasonable time limit on requiring compliance with the ADA. 5. Overall, do the damages awarded to the plaintiff in this case seem “just”? Why or why not? Yes, the damages awarded to the plaintiff are just in this case. AutoZone continually denied Mr. Sheppard with the accommodation he needed to continue his job safely without harm to himself. In the end AutoZone’s lack of follow through on his accommodation costs Mr. Sheppard a great deal of pain and worsened an already bad condition.

EEOC V. AUTOZONE

4 References

Walsh, D. J. (2019). Employment law for human resource practice. Boston, MA: Cengage....