What You Need to Know

• A former Pillsbury paralegal claims he was terminated after requesting to work from home because of a diagnosis that exposed him to COVID-19 contraction.
• Plaintiff Steven Miller said his oncologist directed him to work remotely until last summer, conflicting with Pillsbury's plans to bring back employees by February 2022.
• Supervisors had cited poor performance as the reason for Miller’s termination, even though Miller’s most recent performance review had been positive, according to the complaint.

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman was sued last week in New York federal court by a former paralegal claiming the firm retaliated against him for requesting to work from home after receiving a cancerous diagnosis that made him vulnerable to COVID-19.

In a complaint filed Friday, Steven Miller, a New York-based professional who began work as a litigation paralegal for Pillsbury in 2013, said he was fired Feb. 15, 2022, after forwarding a letter from his oncologist requesting that he be allowed to work remotely until July 2022 to the firm’s head of human resources.

In early 2021, Miller had been diagnosed with JAK2, a “cancerous condition” that put him at high risk of contracting COVID-19, the complaint states.

Pillsbury previously agreed to let Miller work from home until the end of 2021 after he submitted an initial letter from his doctor directing him to work remotely, according to the complaint.

At the time, firm employees were working remotely, but the...

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