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Hotel manager being treated for depression gets fired for it, feds say. Owners are sued

A hotel in Nebraska is being sued after firing a manager who sought treatment for depression, feds say.

The hotel in Omaha hired the general manager – who had already been diagnosed with depression – in the summer of 2019, prosecutors for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said in a lawsuit filed on Sept. 27 in the U.S. District Court of Nebraska.

The manager, employed at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Omaha, noticed his depression-related symptoms worsening a few months later, the lawsuit says. He “began having strong feelings of anger, frustration, and thoughts of self-harm, without any apparent trigger,” prosecutors said.

These symptoms did not lead the manager to hurt himself or others, prosecutors said.

He called his wife and asked her to take him to the hospital on Oct. 28, 2019, court documents say. He notified human resources that he would miss work because he was going to the hospital for treatment of his depression, the lawsuit says.

Two days later, the manager was fired by his supervisor, prosecutors say. Hotel management told him they were firing him because “they were afraid he would hurt other people,” the lawsuit says.

Prosecutors say that the hotel did not assess the manager’s individual condition or ask about his ability to return to work. If he had not been fired, the manager could have returned to work — “with or without reasonable accommodation,” the lawsuit says.

Rather, prosecutors argue, the hotel fired him “based on fears and stereotypes” about depression, discriminating against his disability.

The hotel – owned by Anant Enterprises, Anant Operations, and Farnam Lodging – did not respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment.

In 2019, nearly 3% of U.S. adults reported experiencing severe depression, which is “characterized by the presence of feelings of sadness, emptiness, or irritability, accompanied by bodily and cognitive changes lasting at least 2 weeks,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. During that same time span, moderate and mild symptoms of depression were reported in 4.2% and 11.5% of adults, respectively.

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