EAST ST. LOUIS - A former St. Mary's Hospital employee claims he was unlawfully fired by a new supervisor due to his disability.
Plaintiff Justin Owen filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois against St. Mary's Hospital, citing discrimination and wrongful termination in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
According to the lawsuit, Owen was an employee of St. Mary's Hospital and was working as a housekeeper from Aug. 3, 2015, until he was terminated on July 18, 2022. Owens states that he is disabled because the flow of blood to his brain was limited around the time he was born. He states in his complaint that his condition affects his ability to perform manual tasks including walking, standing and lifting.
Owen claims that at the time of his hiring, he disclosed his disability and the need for reasonable accommodations to his employer without issue. Owens claims he was able to complete his essential job duties with or without accommodation and never had any negative performance issues or disciplinary actions for the first six years of his employment.
The lawsuit alleges that in January 2022, Dorris Danney was hired as a new supervisor. Danney allegedly had a documented fear of individuals with developmental issues and immediately targeted Owen. He claims Danney began a campaign of verbal harassment against him along with changing his job duties. Owen states that because of his learning disability, he performs best if assigned to familiar and repetitive tasks, which he performed well for the six years before Danney was hired as his supervisor.
Owen claims Danney continually assigned him new and unfamiliar tasks to trigger his anxiety and criticize him if the work was not completed to her liking. Owen claims he began to experience severe anxiety and suffer panic attacks at work. According to the lawsuit, Owen had to be hospitalized on July 12, 2022, because his anxiety. Owen received notice on July 18 that he was being terminated from his position due to unsatisfactory performance issues.
Owen claims the purported reason for his termination was a pretext for disability discrimination in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and that he was terminated in retaliation for seeking reasonable accommodations.
The plaintiff is demanding a jury trial to seek damages for lost wages and benefits, plus interest, court costs, attorney fees and any other relief the court deems proper. He is represented in this case by attorney Nathan C. Volheim of Sulaiman Law Group LTD in Lombard.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois case number 3:23-CV-00147