A former employee has filed a lawsuit against a prominent medical center, alleging discrimination and wrongful termination due to her disability. Latoya Clifton filed the complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on June 28, 2024, against Rush University Medical Center.
The lawsuit centers around Clifton's claims that she faced discrimination based on her epilepsy, which significantly limits major life activities. Clifton was hired as a transporter by Rush University Medical Center in November 2022. Her job involved transporting patients and equipment throughout the hospital, among other duties. According to the complaint, Clifton experienced a seizure on November 30, 2023, resulting in a car accident and subsequent hospitalization. She notified her manager, Clara Baity, about her inability to attend work due to her medical condition.
Despite providing necessary documentation and requesting short-term medical leave as advised by her physician, Clifton alleges that Rush University Medical Center failed to accommodate her disability. The defendant instructed Clifton to submit her leave request through Hartford, a third-party absence management administrator. However, Hartford claimed not to have received the supporting documentation multiple times. Subsequently, the defendant switched to another third-party administrator, AbsentOne, without informing Clifton.
Clifton's attempts to return to work were met with obstacles. On January 5, 2024, she received a termination letter citing "voluntary job abandonment" due to failure to provide proper documentation. Despite being instructed by her manager to disregard the letter and follow new procedures with AbsentOne, Clifton's leave request for December 8, 2023 - January 2, 2024 remained unprocessed due to administrative changes.
Clifton alleges that Rush University Medical Center engaged in discriminatory practices by failing to accommodate her disability and retaliating against her for requesting reasonable accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). She also claims that the defendant interfered with her rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) by not informing her of potential leave options and subsequently terminating her employment.
The plaintiff is seeking various forms of relief from the court including back pay with interest, front pay, compensatory and punitive damages for emotional distress and loss of enjoyment of life caused by wrongful termination. Additionally, she requests coverage for attorney fees and any other relief deemed appropriate by the court.
Representing Latoya Clifton is Chad W. Eisenback from Sulaiman Law Group Ltd. The case is under Case ID: 1:24-cv-05458.