A lawsuit claims that Houston nightclub Diallo’s tried to force an employee to provide documentation that she was HIV negative and that when she refused, she was fired.

Click2Houston/KPRC 2 news reports that the lawsuit was filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

Allegedly, the club owner heard that the employee was HIV positive. Thinking this would be bad for business, the owner asked to see medical documentation that the employee did not have HIV.

The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) is the federal law that protects HIV-positive workers against discrimination.

“An employer cannot make business decisions affecting an employee who it heard had a disability such as HIV based on generalized assumptions and unsupported conclusions about the effects of the possible disability on the workplace,” Jim Sacher, EEOC’s regional attorney in Houston, told Click2Houston. “Knee-jerk reactions to such disabilities—especially if the supposed condition is based on hearsay—are not only outdated, they are illegal.”

The news channel reports that “the EEOC is seeking an injunction, back pay with pre-judgment interest, reinstatement (or, in the alternative, front pay), compensatory damages and punitive damages, in amounts to be determined at trial.”