A North Carolina long-term care company has reached a $35,000 settlement over charges that it discriminated against a cook/dietary aide with a physical impairment, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced Wednesday.

Margaret Washington worked for a short time at a nursing home in the town of Mount Olive, but supervisors then fired her because she has only partial use of her left arm, the EEOC charged. Washington maintained that she still could perform her job duties, making her dismissal a potential violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the suit stated.

The settlement resolves the charges that the EEOC brought against nursing home operator SunBridge Regency-North Carolina after failing to reach a pre-litigation deal through a conciliation process.

This is the second EEOC settlement involving a nursing home dietary aide to be announced within a week. The other involved a Genesis facility in New Jersey.