A former employee has filed a lawsuit against his previous employer, alleging discrimination and wrongful termination. On June 10, 2024, Robert Pagane filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania against K2 Solutions, Inc.
Pagane's complaint outlines that he was employed by K2 Solutions as a canine handler from February 2021 until his termination in January 2023. He claims that during his employment, he developed severe osteoarthritis in his hip joint, which significantly impaired his ability to perform essential life activities such as walking and standing. Pagane informed K2 Solutions of his condition and provided medical documentation recommending surgery and requesting reasonable accommodations to modify his work duties. Despite these requests, Pagane alleges that K2 Solutions failed to accommodate him and ultimately terminated his employment under the pretext of insubordination.
The complaint details how Pagane's disability worsened over time, necessitating hip replacement surgery scheduled initially for March 6, 2023, but later moved up to February 6, 2023. Despite notifying his supervisors Cindy Braden and Jorge Rosal about his condition and surgery date changes multiple times, Pagane asserts that the company did not engage in any meaningful discussion regarding accommodations or alternatives to support him through this period. Instead, he was removed from the work schedule on January 9, 2023.
Further complicating matters was an incident involving Canine Bingo, the explosive detection dog assigned to Pagane. The company demanded that Pagane drive a long distance to transfer Canine Bingo to another handler despite knowing about his physical limitations due to osteoarthritis. When Pagane expressed concerns about this request citing both the well-being of Canine Bingo and his own health issues via email on January 19, 2023, no further communication was received from K2 Solutions regarding alternative arrangements or accommodations.
On January 24, 2023—shortly after these communications—Pagane received a letter from K2 Solutions terminating his employment effective immediately for alleged insubordination. In response to these actions, Pagane is suing for violations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA), claiming disability discrimination, failure to accommodate, and retaliatory termination.
Pagane seeks various forms of relief including compensatory damages for economic loss such as back pay and benefits along with non-economic damages for emotional distress. He also requests punitive damages due to what he describes as malicious or recklessly indifferent conduct by K2 Solutions towards his federally protected rights under ADA.
Representing Robert Pagane is attorney Kyle H. Steenland from The Workers' Rights Law Group LLP. The case has been assigned Civil Action No. 24-CV-835 before Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan.