In March 2026, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued Kroger Texas, alleging that the company violated federal disabilities law by failing to accommodate and then firing a longtime employee at a store in the Clear Lake area. A Kroger in Cypress is shown in 2023.
Melissa Phillip/Staff Photographer
A federal civil rights agency is suing Kroger Texas, alleging that the grocer violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to accommodate and then firing a longtime employee at one of its Houston stores.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last week filed suit against Kroger Texas in federal district court on behalf of Kathryn Rodriguez, who worked at the Kroger store at 1950 El Dorado Blvd in the Clear Lake Area.
The suit explains that Rodriguez began working at Kroger as a customer service cashier in 2015, and was still employed there when she “experienced a disability mobility impairment” in 2020, which left her with a limited ability to walk and stand, even after undergoing surgery.
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Upon returning to work, Rodriguez was granted an accommodation by the store’s general manager, who allowed her to use a walker and to sit frequently while working in the self-service checkout area.
This accommodation, the EEOC said, allowed Rodriguez to perform her job “fully and successfully for more than three years.” But in July 2023, a new general manager was assigned to the store, who revoked the accommodation.
“The store leader told (Rodriguez), ‘no sitting at Kroger!’,” the lawsuit says.
The new manager sent Rodriguez home, the EEOC said, and then refused to allow her to return to work with the accommodation, refused to discuss alternative accommodations, denied her requests for leave and ultimately fired her in October 2023.
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“An employer, in consultation with an employee facing a disability, must consider whether an accommodation is reasonable,” said Claudia Molina, a senior trial attorney for the EEOC, in a press release announcing the lawsuit. “Revoking a previously granted reasonable accommodation can violate the ADA.”
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Kroger did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
The grocer, headquartered in Ohio, last year announced plans to close 60 locations nationwide and last month closed two Houston-area stores, at 239 W. 20th St. in the Heights and at 6060 FM 292 in Spring. However, it maintains a major presence in Houston, with more than 30 stores in the city, including the Clear Lake store where Rodriguez worked, and dozens more across the region.
The EEOC said it is seeking an order requiring Kroger to adopt policies and practices to provide reasonable accommodations, an injunction against future disability discrimination, and back pay, damages and reinstatement for Rodriguez.
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Disability discrimination in the workplace “will not be tolerated by the EEOC,” said Rayford Irvin, director of the agency’s Houston district office, in a press release.
“We encourage any employee who believes they have been the victim of workplace discrimination based on disability to file a discrimination charge with the EEOC,” Irvin said.