A former Osaic employee has filed a federal discrimination lawsuit alleging she took extended leave because of a COVID-19 infection and a compromised immune system that led to her firing.
The lawsuit was filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. She first accused Osaic of discrimination in November 2022 through the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
In that original filing, Julietta Scruggs alleged retaliation for her disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 by her employer, Highland Capital Brokerage, both of Birmingham, Ala. (The company is a subsidiary of Phoenix-based Advisor Group, a network of independent broker/dealers with 11,000 affiliated advisors, which was renamed in April 2023 as Osaic.)
Born in Romania, Scruggs lived in an orphanage as a child, her lawsuit states. She said that during this time, she was exposed to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, more commonly known as mad cow disease, and other diseases. (According to the Associated PressRomania began testing in 1995 for mad cow disease, which is fatal to cows and can cause a fatal brain disease in people who eat tainted beef.) Even after being adopted by an American family in 1996, Scruggs said her immune system was left weakened by her early experiences, making her more susceptible to illnesses such as pneumonia and herpes.
Highland Capital hired Scruggs in May 2022 as operations coordinator. She said her supervisor, Kathryn Andringa, assistant to CEO Jim Gelder, worked remotely while requiring Scruggs to work in the office.
Two months after he was hired, Scruggs said he saw several other employees come into the office with symptoms of COVID-19 without taking precautions or notifying co-workers who may have been exposed. As a result, Scruggs asked Andringa and Carolyn McKinley, a human resources representative, if she could work remotely. She claims they told her, “Get a mask and deal with it,” which she did.
However, in August 2022, Scruggs tested positive for COVID-19. Scruggs alleged that Highland Capital Brokerage's disability management company, Unum, approved a leave of absence. Unum extended her leave until the end of September 2022 after a second positive test and a doctor's declaration that her illness had progressed to a restrictive lung diseasewhich reduces the amount of air the respiratory system can hold.
The day before her leave was to end, Scruggs said McKinley called and informed her that they were terminating her employment because her absences had caused a hardship due to “her request that (she) be off work for a period indefinite … due to several extended leave and no confirmed return to work date.” Scruggs said her doctor cleared her to return to work without restrictions the next day, but McKinley refused to rehire her for the position.
In December 2023, Wesley Berta, a federal investigator, stated that the EEOC would not proceed with an investigation, but did not rule on whether Osaic had violated the law. Berta informed Scruggs that she had 90 days to file suit.
Through her public relations firm, Haven Tower Group, Osaic declined to comment. Messages seeking comment from Scruggs' attorney, Allen Arnold, were not immediately returned.