Midwest bank BMO Harris has agreed to pay $400,000 to 14 former employees for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. When the workers' time and attendance was affected by their medical leaves of absence, BMO Harris fired them instead of providing reasonable accommodations.

The Americans with Disabilities Act requires all businesses to provide reasonable accommodations to disabled employees in order for them to continue working, unless those accommodations would lead to "undue hardship." It was BMO Harris' responsibility to help the workers return to their jobs, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The bank settled with the EEOC after a year of litigation. Part of the settlement included BMO's promise to continue abiding by the ADA in the future.

Many businesses may not be very familiar with the ADA, but as this lawsuit demonstrates, failure to comply with the act can have major consequences. One way that BMO could have made accommodations for its employees was by allowing job transfers.

"Now that the U.S. Court of Appeals has made clear that arranging for a job transfer may be an appropriate accommodation under the ADA, all employers are well-advised to adjust their policies to reflect this development in the law," said John Hendrickson, the EEOC's regional attorney in Chicago.

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