A jury awarded more than $2 million to a former Orlando, Fla.-area Burger King employee who sued after claiming she was fired solely because she had to use a trachea tube to breathe.
Ashley Merard, of Orlando, sued franchisee Magic Burgers LLC in the U.S. District Court in Orlando. About a year before working for the company in 2017, she was in a car accident that led to her needing the tube, according to the lawsuit.
She was hired by a general manager who was informed about the tube and saw it during her initial interview, but a “higher management official” then came to the store after she started working and said she had to go because of the tube, the lawsuit says.
