Store Quietly Settles Claims of Cancer Firing

DALLAS (CN) - Tuesday Morning has settled claims that it fired a former CEO after she revealed her breast cancer diagnosis.

Kathleen Mason sued the Dallas-based discount retailer in May 2013. Judge Mark Greenberg with the Dallas County Court at Law signed an agreed order Thursday to dismiss with prejudice, ending the suit.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Mason had filed a discrimination claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in August 2012. Tuesday Morning fired her after she served as president and CEO for over a decade.

Her attorney, Rogge Dunn with Clouse Dunn in Dallas, said then that the company's board of directors had a change of attitude toward Mason after they learned of her diagnosis.

He said his client was paid a $500,000 bonus that year and received an amended employment contract about two months before she was fired.

"If she was not meeting the board's expectation, why would she get these raises and amended contracts?" Dunn asked at the time.

Tuesday Morning initially said it would "vigorously" defend against the lawsuit and that Mason's firing was legal and under the terms of her employment contract.

On Monday, both Rogge and Tuesday Morning said they had amicably resolved the matter, the Associated Press reported.

Mason's most recent checkup showed she had no further signs of cancer, Rogge added.

Follow @davejourno

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