A former University of Pennsylvania finance administrator says she was sidelined to a windowless basement cubicle, blocked from meaningful work-from-home accommodations, then pushed out as “redundant.” Now, Marille Heallis has taken her complaints to court.
Heallis, formerly an assistant director of finance and administration at Penn, filed a civil lawsuit on May 13 alleging a pattern of racial discrimination and disability-related retaliation. The complaint states that while other directors had private offices, she was assigned to a basement cubicle without proper ventilation, that her request for remote work was limited despite severe asthma, and that her role was later eliminated as unnecessary. She is seeking damages, removal of what she calls discriminatory records from her personnel file, and court-ordered training and policy changes at the university.
What the suit alleges
As reported by The Daily Pennsylvanian, the May 13 filing brings claims under Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act and the Philadelphia Fair Practices Ordinance. The lawsuit alleges that various “managers, supervisors, agents and employees” engaged in a pattern and practice of discrimination and that Heallis was treated differently from colleagues in similar roles.
Alleged workplace conditions and denied accommodations…