Jury Rejects Library Assistant's Retaliation Claim

Tuesday, April 3, 2018 | 0

A federal jury found no merit in claims made by a former library assistant that the city of Lowell retaliated against her for filing a workers’ compensation claim, according to a report by the Lowell Sun.

The jury found in favor of City Manager Bernie Lynch and other Lowell officials in a lawsuit filed by Diane Cloutier seeking more than $500,000 in damages. Cloutier worked for the Pollard Memorial Library from 1998 to 2003, when she was dismissed from her job after her doctor said she could not longer lift any weight or grasp with her right hand. 

Cloutier claimed that the city fired her in retaliation for filing a claim, but city officials contended that she simply was no longer able to perform her job with or without accommodation. U.S. District Court Judge Dennis Saylor threw out most of her claims before the suit went to trial.

In dismissing a retaliation claim, he said the evidence showed that Cloutier had often refused to perform tasks that her supervisors asked her to do if she felt her disability prevented her from completing them, without reprisal.

Cloutier had from 2010 to 2015 told her supervisors she could not read small print, answer the telephone or lift anything of “any weight,” according to the Lowell Sun report.