EASTON – A Lancaster woman alleges her Bird In Hand employer terminated her after returning from a disability leave.
Patricia Parker filed a complaint on Oct. 23 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Ames Reese Inc. citing the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff was hired by the defendant as a packer/sorter in February 2014. The suit states that in March 2017, she fractured her elbow and was ordered to be placed on light duty for two months by her physician.
The suit states that the defendant refused her request for accommodation and instead placed her on a disability leave of absence. The plaintiff alleges that when she returned to work from the leave on May 15, she was fired.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks to prohibit the defendant from continuing to maintain its illegal policy of discriminating against employees based on their disabilities, compensate the plaintiff for any and all pay she would have received if not for the defendant's actions, punitive damages court costs and any further relief the court grants. She is represented by Manali Arora and Richard Swartz of Swartz Swidler LLC in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case number 5:17-cv-04742-EGS