On Wednesday, a former employee filed a suit against defendants Medstar Laboratory of Florida, Inc and United Clinical Laboratory, LLC in the Middle District of Florida Tampa, raising concerns of discrimination in the workplace.
The defendants are clinical businesses that provide diagnostic testing. The complaint states that co-workers “began making discriminatory sex-based comments about plaintiff and other female employees of defendants.”
According to the complaint, the plaintiff’s co-worker made multiple comments about the plaintiff’s children, including remarks that the plaintiff needs to “quit her job, stay home, and take care of her children and their schooling due to the pandemic.”
The plaintiff also claims that she had contacted the general supervisor about the discrimination she had been facing and was told on several occasions that they would speak with the co-worker.
According to the court document, the co-worker avoided termination and eventually, the company’s human resources office became involved. While they said they would open an investigation, the complaint said, the plaintiff was terminated a week later.
The plaintiff claims that she was told by her General Supervisor that she was being let go because the facility was being shut down. This allegedly came to a shock to the plaintiff because she was told that “that upper management was very happy with the lab’s performance.”
The complaint cited other inconsistencies; the plaintiff said they were instructed to not “dispose of certain reagents that would expire” which the plaintiff described as unusual “if the lab was truly being shut down.
Ultimately, the defendant is facing six counts, including sexual harassment, sex discrimination, and retaliation under state and federal law.
The plaintiff is being represented by Florin Gray Bouzas Owens, LLC.
