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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Disabled Parking Cost Woman Her Kaiser Job, She Says

PORTLAND, Ore. (CN) - Kaiser fired a woman with disabilities because she used a parking spot reserved for disabled people, she claims in Multnomah County Court.

Lorri Titus has chronic back and leg pain, pancreatitis, anxiety, ADHD, IBS and hearing loss. In July 2013 Kaiser required her to attend a multi-day training event connected with the opening of a new Kaiser hospital in Hillsboro, Ore.

Titus informed her supervisor she could not take a bus to the event with the other employees because of her disabilities.

On July 16, she drove to the event, parked in a parking spot reserved for disabled people and displayed her "disabled" parking permit.

When she returned from the event, however, she found the employee bus had blocked her in, the driver refusing to move so she could get out.

"She was told by the bus operator that she was not supposed to park there and that Kaiser employees were supposed to take the bus, 'so you will have to wait,'" according to the complaint.

Due to her anxiety, Titus began to panic, and managed, nonetheless, to maneuver her car out of the parking space. She parked in the same spot the next day, but was told by a Kaiser supervisor "you are just parking there looking for a fight."

Manager Ladonna Sullivan put Titus on administrative leave the same day, "pending an investigation of the incident." Titus was fired Aug. 3, 2013.

She sues for $143,000 under Oregon's discrimination laws. The plaintiff is represented by Philip Lebenbaum of Hollander, Lebenbaum & Cannicott.

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