An incidental finding from 2006 became the reason she lost her job, the worker claims

A Michigan transit agency fired an employee who worked on disability access, a week before a key medical appointment, a new lawsuit alleges.

The complaint, filed July 1, 2026 in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, targets the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation, the Detroit-based agency known as SMART. It reads like a checklist of the moments where HR decisions can go wrong.

According to the filing, the worker joined SMART in January 2024 as a Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist, a role focused on accessibility for blind and visually impaired individuals. She has a condition called drop foot and has worn an ankle-foot orthosis brace since 2006, the complaint says, and it never required an accommodation or affected her work.

The turning point, the filing alleges, came in June 2024, when she injured her hip. She told her supervisor, used crutches temporarily, and asked to work remotely while awaiting tests. The complaint says she kept HR updated throughout - an orthopedic consult, a scheduled MRI, and a diagnostic follow-up set for July 8, 2024.

Rather than support, the complaint alleges, she got pushback. It claims an HR specialist told her she "shouldn't be at the event on crutches" after she arranged a private driver to a work function. Days later, the filing says, a routine remote meeting was moved to a mandatory in-person session...

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