SHERMAN – A Collin County woman asserts in a federal lawsuit that an outdoor furniture business fired her because she suffers from a visual ailment.
Sherman Division of the Eastern District of Texas records show that Lorna Dwight initiated legal action against The Chair King, Inc., doing business as Chair King Backyard Store, on Jan. 15.
The store hired Dwight as a sales associate last March and was made aware of her disability “of severe vision impairment and severe night blindness.” Dwight informed the defendant that she could not drive at night because of the disability, lobbying to leave work at 6 p.m.
The plaintiff had her accommodations met during her first week on the job, but her employer “then refused to further accommodate (her),” the suit says.
Dwight additionally claims that her co-workers harassed her because of her need to leave by 6 p.m. each evening. She was written up despite presenting the respondent with correspondence from her physician, the complaint says.
According to Dwight, her refusal to work until 8 p.m. led to her termination.
“Chair King unlawfully discriminated against Dwight by refusing to provide her the agreed upon reasonable accommodation,” the suit says. “Chair King unlawfully discriminated against Dwight by terminating her employment because of her disability and her record of a disability.”
Consequently, the complainant seeks unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial.
She is represented by Karen K. Fitzgerald of the law firm Johnston Tobey Baruch P.C. in Addison.
Sherman Division of the Eastern District of Texas Case No. 4:19-CV-0034