After 37 years, she says her exit came with a "retirement" letter she never asked for
A 59-year-old manager says Duke Energy fired her after 37 years - then mailed her a letter congratulating her on a "retirement" she says she never took.
The former manager sued Duke Energy Business Services on August 13, 2026, in the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. She alleges she was fired because of her age and gender and in retaliation for taking medical leave, bringing claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Title VII, the Ohio Civil Rights Act, and the Family and Medical Leave Act.
According to the complaint, she started at the company in March 1989 and had a clean record until early 2026 - a performance bonus every eligible year and a "Valued Contributor" tag in multiple cycles.
Her case turns first on workload. The filing says she was the only woman and the oldest of four Senior Products and Services Managers under the same supervisor, and that, upon information and belief, the other three were younger men. Starting around February 2025, the complaint says, her portfolio climbed to 13 programs while her male peers carried roughly a quarter to a third as many. She alleges she asked three times - in July 2025, September 2025, and January 2026 - to have the load rebalanced, and that it never was.
Then she took leave. After knee surgery in September 2025, she was out on approved FMLA leave through the end of November. During that stretch, the...
By Chukwuma Umeorah OPay Digital Services has dismissed as “false, malicious and misleading” a viral social media publication claiming that the fintech company would suspend operations from Septem...