Christine L. Boone was fired as director of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Blindness and Visual Services (allegedly for “insubordination” when she refused to carry out a superior’s directive regarding making a college aid program more available to students who weren’t receiving merit scholarships) and was replaced by another blind woman, Pamela Shaw. Nevertheless, Boone sued through her lawyer Arch Stokes, alleging that she was discriminated against because of her blindness, though the AP’s quote of Stokes’ opening statement of the federal trial before U.S. District Judge Sylvia H. Rambo makes it sound like a civil-service dispute. Boone only received $180,000 of the $1 million in the “future lost wages” she sought, but the $1.5 million for emotional distress should provide solace. Boone will ask the judge to reinstate her to her job; the AP did not get comment from Shaw, who currently holds the position. (Mark Scolforo, AP, Nov. 28; Mark Scolforo, AP/Boston Herald, Nov. 8). The National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania opposed Boone’s firing; that may or may not make it a bad decision, but a bad decision isn’t federally actionable, only a discriminatory one is.
$3.36M for blind woman replaced by blind woman
Christine L. Boone was fired as director of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Blindness and Visual Services (allegedly for “insubordination” when she refused to carry out a superior’s directive regarding making a college aid program more available to students who weren’t receiving merit scholarships) and was replaced by another blind woman, Pamela Shaw. Nevertheless, Boone sued […]
4 Comments
It sounds more a retailiation claim than a discrimination claim. Under such a claim it doesn’t matter who replaced you.
If this was a retaliation claim, Ima is correct. The press coverage and attorneys’ opening and closing statements called it a discrimination claim, though this is, of course, not dispositive on the question of whether there was also a retaliation claim. Regardless, hitting taxpayers for $3 million+ is unreasonable, and the evidence of insubordination seems undisputed.
Blind leading the blind
Score another one for the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Blind leading the blind
Score another one for the Americans with Disabilities Act.