Letter carrier claims retirement forced so USPS could hire younger worker

TYLER - A letter carrier has filed a lawsuit claiming she was forced into retirement by the U.S. Postal Service so they could hire a younger employee. 

Sharon K. Kennedy filed suit against Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe and the USPS on May 24 in the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division.

Kennedy worked for defendants for over 27 years as a letter carrier.  According to the lawsuit, she had made two prior complaints against the defendants to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

After returning from a three-week vacation in July 2011, she learned that her husband was diagnosed with a terminal form of pancreatic cancer. She made an application for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act and claims she was immediately discriminated against. Kennedy alleges that the defendants wanted her to retire so that they could replace her with a younger employee in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967. 

The defendant is accused of violating the ADEA and the FMLA, retaliation for filling EEOC claims and retaliation under the FMLA.

The plaintiff is seeking an award of damages for lost pay, lost retirement benefits, loss of social security benefits, interest, reimbursement, attorney’s fees and court costs.

Kennedy is represented by Rosemary Sage Jones and Grant T. Gaston of Ramey & Flock P.C. in Tyler. A jury trial is requested.

U.S. District Judge Leonard E. Davis is assigned to the case.

Case No. 6:13-cv-00422