EEOC Lawsuit Against Wendy’s Highlights Disability and Age Discrimination Risks for Employers

by Nicole Jefferson and Rrita Osmani

EEOC Files Disability and Age Discrimination Lawsuit Against Wendy’s

On December 29, 2025, the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (“S.D. Ohio”) against Wendy’s International, LLC alleging disability and age discrimination against a Columbus-Ohio based district manager, Michael Salsburg. The complaint alleges Wendy’s violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). See EEOC v. Wendy’s International, LLC, Case No. 2:25-cv-01516. The nationwide fast-food chain barred the district manager who was in his late 50s from returning to work after returning from leave from disability-related surgery. Despite an approved February 2023 release from medical leave from his healthcare provider, Wendy’s insisted that Mr. Salsburg remain on leave and conditioned his employment on his ability to work without any restrictions or accommodations, and later terminated him in June 2023. The district manager had worked for Wendy’s and its franchises since the early 1990s. The complaint alleges that in the years leading up to the district manager’s termination, Wendy’s had shown a general preference for younger workers allowing for accommodations only for younger workers. Wendy’s has yet to respond to the lawsuit. The EEOC’s filing coincides with persistent actions in recent years to bring suits against fast food and hospitality companies’ discrimination of workers with disabilities and speaks to the need for continued accountability of these companies.

Medical Leave, Work Restrictions, and Alleged Discrimination

Mr. Salsburg has a diagnosis of ulnar neuropathy, cubital tunnel syndrome, and carpal tunnel syndrome from his medical provider that required surgery on his left hand and wrist in September 2022. Following this surgery, he returned to work in October 2022 and went back on approved medical leave in November 2022 for surgery on his right hand and wrist. Mr. Salsburg’s doctor approved a return to work in February 2023 with the provision that he would not lift, push, or pull more than 10 pounds with his right hand (until April 2023), according to the complaint. Despite submitting necessary documentation to HR, Wendy’s did not allow Mr. Salzburg to return to work at all. The job description does not have any specifications that lifting, pushing, or pulling more than 10 pounds is an essential job function. The complaint further alleges discrimination, as a younger manager was previously allowed to return to work with restrictions permitted, including the same provision in Mr. Salsburg’s restriction request of limiting lifting more than 15 pounds.

What the EEOC Is Seeking From Wendy’s

The EEOC is seeking permanent injunctions against Wendy’s policies or practices that violate the ADA and the ADEA, an order requiring Wendy’s to revise reform or eliminate certain forms, processes and practice, an award for back pay, front pay, compensation for past and future pecuniary losses, among other compensatory and punitive damages under the ADA, and liquidated damages under the ADEA and costs.

Prior Disability Discrimination Lawsuits Against Wendy’s

Mr. Salsburg’s experience with the fast food chain is unfortunately not isolated. The EEOC previously pursued disability discrimination lawsuits against Wendy’s. In 2012, they filed a suit against a Wendy’s franchisee in Killeen, Texas for denying employment to a hearing-impaired applicant. See EEOC v. CTW, LLC (6:12-CV-091). Wendy’s settled for $41,500.

Background: The ADA and ADEA

The ADA was established in 1990 and created significant legal protections for people with disabilities including prohibiting employment discrimination, requiring specific public accessibility accommodations, and improving government services for people with disabilities. It also included protections for persons with disabilities in private and public businesses, programs, and services. Under the ADA, workers are entitled to reasonable accommodation in the work environment that would allow them to apply for and/or perform the essential job functions provided that it does not cause the employer “undue hardship.” The ADEA was established 23 years prior to the ADA in 1967, prohibiting employment discrimination against workers 40 years of age and older with the goal to provide older workers legal recourse options for age discrimination.

Broader Pattern of Disability Discrimination in Fast Food and Hospitality

Disability discrimination is increasingly rampant in the fast food and hospitality sectors. In May 2023, Papa Johns International Inc. settled a disability discrimination lawsuit for $175,000 after the pizza chain barred a legally blind former employee in Athens, GA from bringing his service dog to the job site and was later terminated. In 2024, the EEOC filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (S.D.N.Y.) against TNNY Hotel, LLC, Ned NY 28th, LLC, Soho House & Co Inc., and TNNY Restaurant, LLC, – four entities that own or operate the Ned NoMad hotel and members’ club – alleging ADA violations after they refused to accommodate an employee whose knee condition necessitated the use of a stool while at the host stand and later terminated her despite the fact that the stool provision would not have prevented her from completing essential job functions. The entities settled for $100,000.

Why the Wendy’s Case Matters

The pandemic increased accommodations requests for persons with disabilities in jobs that require in-person, customer-based labor such as the fast food and hospitality sectors, which subsequently increased unlawful denials of these requests and retaliation by employers. The EEOC’s lawsuit against Wendy’s is just the latest of actions that demonstrates the power of holding employers accountable for ADA and ADEA violations.