BOSTON (Legal Newsline) - A Massachusetts woman is suing her former employer, medical research company Argenx US, for allegedly discriminating against her due to her handicap, according to court documents filed in the Massachusetts Superior Court.
Julie C. Locklear describes herself in the Feb. 12 suit as a "successful high-level executive" with Argenx for her involvement in disease treatment research. She became the Global Head of the Argenx Health Economics and Outcomes Research Department in September 2019.
Locklear, who frequently traveled to Europe as a part of her job with Argenx, was diagnosed with hypersomnia in November of 2019. The plaintiff alleges that, after informing her superiors of her condition in January 2020, she was the victim of discrimination in the workplace, including prohibition from travel, ridicule, scrutiny of job performance and bullying regarding Locklear's energy drink consumption to battle her daytime sleepiness.
After choosing to work from home in late February 2020 to escape the hostile workplace she was in, Locklear was dismissed from Argenx on grounds of job abandonment, she claims.
She is seeking punitive damages, attorneys fees and interest, and demands a jury trial.
The suit was filed by attorney Jonathan J. Margolis, of Powers, Jodoin, Marolis and Mantell LLP.