HOUSTON – A local machine shop is accused of terminating a woman with a medical condition affecting her hip, recent Harris County District Court records show.
Leigh Beard initiated litigation against former employer G&H Diversified Manufacturing, LP on Apr. 2 in the 165th District Court.
Previously employed as an outside sales person, Beard explains in the original petition that she suffers from hip dysplasia, which causes damage to the joint and surrounding tissues. G&H reportedly knew about Beard’s disability.
The condition took a turn for the worst two years ago, prompting the necessity of an operation. Beard spoke with a representative in G&H’s human resources department about possible accommodations for the surgery necessitated by the disability.
Court documents further state that the representative, Monica Llanes, informed the complainant of her ineligibility for FMLA leave because she had not worked for G&H for a full year, to which the latter offered to postpone her operation to September 2017 in order to achieve eligibility. Llanes additionally instructed Beard not to tell her supervisor about the surgery until after the Fourth of July holiday as she “only had two more days of insurance coverage in June.”
According to the complaint, Llanes’s fears that Beard’s supervisor would react negatively to the news were confirmed since he fired the plaintiff on the supposed pretext of the business “going to move in a different direction” on June 30, 2017.
Beard argues that no one from the company has ever accused her of misconduct or poor work performance.
She seeks unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial.
David C. Holmes of the Law Office of David C. Holmes in Houston is representing the plaintiff.
Harris County 165th District Court Case No. 2019-23502