An Augusta woman who won backing from a state human rights panel for her claims of disability discrimination against Molina Healthcare is now suing her former employer in federal court.
Angela S. Johnson, 60, is seeking back wages and other damages as well as an order forcing Molina Information Systems LLC to provide civil rights training for human resources workers and supervisors on provisions around disability employment discrimination.
Johnson, through attorneys Carol Garvan and Valerie Wicks, filed the lawsuit Wednesday last week in U.S. District Court in Bangor.
The lawsuit accuses Molina Healthcare of “disability discrimination, denial of reasonable accommodations, retaliation and intentional and willful interference of employee’s rights and retaliation for requesting medical leave” as well as “failure to provide personnel file and written statement of reasons for termination.”
The federal lawsuit follows failed conciliation between Johnson and Molina Healthcare, one of two subsidiaries of Molina Information Systems LLC, which has its headquarters in Long Beach, California.
Laura Murray, who handles media relations for Molina Healthcare, said via email that it’s company policy “not to comment on pending litigation so we’re unable to provide any additional information.”
Johnson initially took her claims of unlawful employment discrimination to the Maine Human Rights Commission. In August 2017, that panel voted 4-0 to find reasonable grounds to believe she was subject to both illegal disability discrimination and retaliation when she was fired after she requested an accommodation for an illness.
The panel did not support Johnson’s claim that she was denied a reasonable accommodation.
Johnson was fired on Oct. 10, 2014, from her job in on the Augusta office of Molina.
At that time, Molina Healthcare provided Medicaid services under a contract with the state, and Garvan said Johnson “was overseeing many people in terms of helping with the operation of that Medicaid contract.”
Johnson had asked her employer to take intermittent leave under the Family Medical Leave Act when she suffered a recurrence of symptoms of Meniere’s disease Oct. 4, 2014.
The firm has not been served with formal notice of the lawsuit, but Garvan said she anticipated having Molina served in the next 90 days.
Betty Adams ccn be contacted at 621-5631 or at:
badams@centralmaine.com
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