A federal agency has settled with Verizon Communications Inc. on a nationwide class disability discrimination lawsuit involving the company’s “no fault” attendance policies, Business Insurance reported.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which on Thursday said Verizon agreed to pay $20 million to resolve the lawsuit, alleged that 24 Verizon subsidiaries unlawfully denied reasonable accommodations to hundreds of unionized employees.
The lawsuit also claimed that the New York-based company disciplined or fired them under its “no fault” attendance policies.

“An inflexible leave policy may deny workers with disabilities a reasonable accommodation to which they’re entitled by law – with devastating effects,” EEOC Chair Jacqueline Berrien said in a statement.

Verizon, which admitted no wrongdoing, said in a statement that the company agreed to settle the complaint “solely because it is in the best interest of our company, our employees and our customers to avoid the disruption, delay and expense of protracted litigation.”

Subject to judicial approval, the largest disability discrimination settlement in the EEOC’s history was filed in federal court in Baltimore the same day as the lawsuit.