His settlement said 'voluntary resignation.' His old inbox told a different story
A former Ascension data scientist says his ex-employer flagged him as "terminated" in an auto-reply that ran for over two years.
Michael Joyce filed suit in federal court in Austin on May 9, 2026, alleging that Ascension Health Alliance retaliated against him by leaving a custom auto-reply on his old work email account announcing he had been fired - more than a year after he and the health system had confidentially settled an earlier discrimination claim.
Joyce worked as a lead data scientist at Ascension from May 2019 to June 2023, based in Austin, Texas. After his departure, he filed an EEOC charge in December 2023 alleging disability discrimination and a hostile work environment, and raised concerns about his supervisor, Associate Vice President Ryan Orlowski.
In March 2024, the two sides signed a confidential agreement. Per the settlement, Ascension agreed to treat his exit as a voluntary resignation. All reference inquiries were to be routed through The Work Number, a third-party employment verification service that would share only his job title and dates of employment.
According to the filing, Joyce learned around June 20, 2025, that someone at Ascension had set up a custom auto-reply on his old work email. The message, the complaint says, read in part: "I regret to inform you that I am no longer with Ascension as my employment has been terminated." It directed urgent inquiries to...
A person in his 30s who demanded compensation for alleged foreign substances in cup noodles and the absence of meat in stir-fried pork was sentenced to prison in both the first trial and the appel...