Paycom fired worker over severe onion allergy, EEOC lawsuit claims

Her work made accommodation realistic, the agency argues. She sat at a desk, worked largely on her own, and met clients over Zoom to help move benefits information into the company’s software.

Even so, the complaint describes a string of dangerous exposures once she was on the job. Coworkers walked past her cubicle with onion burgers. Food was carried to a breakroom near her. At one point, the company catered a lunch containing onions. Several reactions required emergency medication, the filing says, and one, on June 10, 2024, sent her to the hospital by ambulance.

She asked for help repeatedly. In a May 28, 2024 email, the complaint says, she told human resources she was “deathly allergic to onions.” Her doctor later recommended an enclosed office away from food, or permission to work from home.

The EEOC alleges the company turned those recommendations down. Instead, according to the filing, it told her to wear a mask and carry an EpiPen, then relocated her to a room roughly fifteen feet from a breakroom – without alerting the employees who used it to her allergy.

The filing describes the ending in a few steps. On June 18, 2024, the complaint says, an in-house attorney instructed HR to stop discussing accommodations until further guidance came down. The following day, the filing states, the company fired her, telling her the move was for her “health and wellness.” It did so, the EEOC alleges, without waiting for additional medical documentation she had offered and without consulting her physician.