FIRED CANCER PATIENT WINS SUIT
A federal jury on Wednesday awarded a 47-year-old Delray Beach woman $8.1 million in a lawsuit in which she claimed Michaels Stores, Inc. violated federal employment law for repeatedly criticizing her work performance, then firing her while she was suffering from cancer and undergoing chemotherapy.
Jurors determined that Kara Jorud was unjustly fired on Oct. 16, 2008 from her manager’s position at a Boca Raton store after she claimed she was forced to work while undergoing chemotherapy, was harassed and was wrongfully accused of stealing from the arts and crafts store.
“It’s really been awful; beyond awful,” said Jorud, who transferred to the Michaels store on Glades Road after leaving a store in Massachusetts. “They made a difficult situation almost impossible.”
Officials with Michaels could not be reached for comment on Wednesday despite multiple calls to their lawyers and to their headquarters in Irving, Texas.
After a five-day trial, jurors deliberated for about five hours over two days before awarding Jorud $4 million for pain and suffering, $4 million for punitive damages and $100,000 for lost wages. The judge reserved the right to increase the award for lost wages up to $1 million, said Jorud’s attorney, Brian McPherson.
The lawsuit cited violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family Medical Leave Act, and the Florida Civil Rights Act. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a Right to Sue notice.
“I would be surprised if they [Michaels] just rolled over, but [the verdict] just happened so we don’t know if they’ll appeal,” McPherson said.
Jorud worked for three years at a Michaels store in Shuesberry, Mass., before being transferred to Boca Raton in September 2005.
After being initially misdiagnosed with lupus after finding a lump in her breast, she was eventually diagnosed with breast cancer on July 30, 2008, and had a double mastectomy on Aug. 19.
She claimed in the lawsuit that she was pressured to return to work early during a six-week medical leave because she was expected to fix the high-volume store’s failing operations. Within days after her mastectomy, according to the lawsuit, District Manager Skip Sand began calling Jorud asking her when she was coming back to work. She returned to work on Sept. 15 because she feared for her job.
Sand also visited the store two to three times a week after Jorud came back to criticize her performance, the suit states, adding that she asked for help from the corporate office, but was told to try not to take medical leave again.
Sand, who was named in the lawsuit, also criticized Jorud for bringing in her fiancé and his son on Oct. 13 to help her while she was weak from chemo and had to shift old inventory to help make room for a pending delivery of new inventory. She was fired three days later, a day before her next scheduled chemotherapy treatment.
“They accused her of theft,” McPherson said. “And [Sand] harassed her because she missed so much work. He claimed he saw her theft on video and claimed she violated company policies that didn’t even exist.”
Jorud later disproved the theft charge, which the district manager later admitted was false, McPherson said.
He said Jorud hurriedly married her fiancé to get on his health insurance plan after losing her insurance with her job.
Her daughter, Courtney, split high school classes with a full-time job to help pay the bills.
“It’s been extremely agonizing. I’ve had a hard time hanging on but I stayed with it,” Jorud said, “I’ve had a lot of medical issues and it’s been a tough two years. I would not want to repeat it.”
Doctors were concerned about the health impact of additional stress caused by her legal battle, but now “it’s just a giant weight off of her,” McPherson said. “Now she can focus on fighting [her] cancer.”
Jorud says she wants to make a difference for others, especially for women so they know this doesn’t have to happen to them.
“I would advise everyone to stand up for their rights and don’t give in to someone bullying you,” she said.