VA employee wins jury trial for disability discrimination
Our client, Lauren Zeuner, won a jury trial against the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for disability discrimination and retaliation.1 Ms. Zeuner first retained our firm in 2019, after the VA terminated her employment for medical inability. We represented Ms. Zeuner in an appeal before the U.S. Merit System Protections Board (MSPB).2 In 2020, the MSPB ruled in Ms. Zeuner’s favor and ordered the VA to cancel the removal and to retroactively restore and reassign her to another position as a reasonable accommodation for her disability— asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
After she returned to work in March 2020, Ms. Zeuner waited for more than four months until the VA gave her email and computer access, which she needed to do her job. And the VA never reassigned her. After attempting to force Ms. Zeuner to accept a three-grade demotion, the VA detailed her to a lower-graded position. We filed a lawsuit for Ms. Zeuner in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. After a three-day trial, the jury returned a verdict in Ms. Zeuner’s favor. The jury found that the VA denied her reasonable accommodations, discriminated based on disability, and retaliated against her for filing the MSPB appeal. The jury awarded Ms. Zeuner $210,500 in compensatory damages for her pain and suffering. We are grateful to the jury for delivering justice for Ms. Zeuner, a kind, hardworking, and deserving client.
Shareholder Sara McDonough represented Ms. Zeuner in both the MSPB appeal and the lawsuit, and Law Clerk Tiba Fatli provided invaluable litigation support for the trial.
1 Zeuner v. McDonough, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, No. CV 22-2381. 2 Zeuner v. Dep’t of Veterans Affairs, MSPB Docket No. PH-0752-19-0264-I-2 (Jan. 16, 2020).
