HOUSTON — A woman claims she was forced to take medical leave, told not to come back to work until she no longer required accommodations and was fired due to her disability.
Gwendolyn Ashley filed a complaint Aug. 13 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas Houston Division against Centre for Neuro Skills (CNS) Inc., Texas alleging violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act as amended (ADAAA).
Ashley began working as a lead education and behavioral specialist for CNS on May 29, 2018 in Webster. She alleges in her complaint that within her first week of working for CNS, she notified them that she suffered Neurological Lyme Disease, a disability that caused her to have numbness, pain, some "paralysis in her facial muscles," vision problems, headaches, neck aches and fevers.
Ashley claims that in November of 2018, she requested accommodations to be "excused from transferring/transporting patients to the bathroom" which was granted by CNS. She also claims that in January of 2019, CNS suggested she use a cane and that during a "performance review," she was told CNS "does not hire employees with disabilities" and was forced to take medical leave. Ashley claims she was also told not to return to return to work until she no longer needed accommodations and was fired and replaced with an employee who did not have a disability.
Ashley seeks monetary relief, interest, trial by jury and all other just relief. She is represented by Paul Botros of Morgan & Morgan PA in Plantation, Florida.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas Houston Division case number 4:20-CV-02839