The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

January 30, 2007

Lawsuit: Sharon hospital fired woman because of her age, disability

By Joe Pinchot

SHENANGO VALLEY — A federal judge has ordered mediation in a lawsuit filed by a Hermitage woman against Sharon Regional Health System.

The mediation session will be held by April 2 before Sally Griffth Cimini, according to the order filed Tuesday by U.S. District Court Judge Arthur J. Schwab, Pittsburgh.

Carol Scholl, 52, of 40 Pine Tree Lane, charged in a suit filed Oct. 23 that the health care provider discriminated against her age and disability when it fired her in March.

In its answer filed Dec. 29, Sharon Regional denied discriminating against her. It also said that she was not fired, alleging that she resigned voluntarily.

Ms. Scholl said she was hired in August 1973 as a lab aide and clerk, but left in 1990 because of fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, which “substantially limited her in nearly every major life activity.”

She was rehired in 2001, a time when she was “without symptoms,” she said. Ms. Scholl was promoted in August 2004 from mental health worker to psychiatric social worker. She said she notified her employer that her symptoms had returned and asked for help — which she said “constituted a request for accommodation” — but officials retaliated against her by increasing her workload, and in other ways, she said in the suit filed through attorneys Neal A. Sanders and Dirk D. Beuth, Butler.

The hospital told her she was being fired because of deficiencies in her work, she said.

Sharon Regional prepared for her firing by hiring others who did not have disabilities, and gave favorable treatment to younger employees, she said.

The sides agreed that a performance plan was discussed in January 2006.

The company, represented by Donna J. Geary and Joseph S. Palmiero of Jackson Lews LLP, Pittsburgh, agreed with the dates and job titles given by Ms. Scholl, but otherwise denied her account.

Among its defenses, the company said her claims were filed too late, that she still has administrative remedies to follow, and that she was not disabled.

Ms. Scholl is asking to be reinstated, compensated for lost wages and benefits, humiliation, embarrassment and other factors, and to be awarded punitive damages, costs and attorney’s fees.

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