USC and a registered nurse have settled a disability discrimination suit in which the nurse alleged she was wrongfully terminated because she had a shoulder injury for which she sought accommodations and took medical leave.
Attorneys for Chou-Li Chu filed court papers on Wednesday with Judge Alexander C.D. Giza informing him of a “conditional” resolution in the case with the expectation a request for dismissal will be brought by July 31. No terms were divulged.
Chu filed the suit in July 2024 and a month later agreed to take the case before an arbitrator rather than a jury. The court papers do not state whether the case reached arbitration prior to the tentative accord.
According to Chu’s complaint, she was hired in July 2003 and worked in numerous USC hospital and clinic departments. She held various job positions, including bedside nurse, intensive care unit nurse, utilization review specialist and clinical nurse. She worked in the advanced lung disease clinic at the time of her termination.
In August 2021, USC ordered all its employees working remotely due to the pandemic, including Chu, to return to work in their offices full-time. Because the plaintiff had a “frozen” shoulder, she brought her previously evaluated ergonomically approved keyboard and mouse to the office, but the equipment was disallowed by the case management manager, the suit stated.
A frozen shoulder is a condition characterized by stiffness, severe pain and a significant loss of range of motion in the shoulder joint.
Later that month, USC gave Chu clearance to use her ergonomic equipment, the suit states. In January 2022, the case management boss increased Chu’s daily assignments steadily from 40 to 50 to 100, the suit alleged.
Chu’s doctor placed the plaintiff on two medical leaves for anxiety, depression and stress and Chu was cleared to return to work in June 2022 with permanent restrictions, but despite applying for multiple positions, she was terminated in March 2024, the suit stated.