A federal district court in Pennsylvania concluded that Irene Najmola, a former employee of Chester County Hospital, sufficiently pled a retaliation claim under ERISA section 510 by alleging that her employment was terminated shortly after returning from short-term disability leave.  In so ruling, the court determined that Najmola sufficiently pled that defendant had the specific intent to interfere with her attainment of ERISA benefits by alleging that she: (1) was an employee; (2) utilized her ERISA protected short-term disability plan; and (3) was terminated.  In addition, the Court held that the temporal proximity between the exercise of her short-term disability leave and her termination were sufficient at the motion to dismiss stage to infer that defendants had the intent to interfere with or retaliate against plaintiff for utilizing ERISA protected benefits. The case is Najmola v. Women’s Healthcare Group of Pa., 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 101583 (E.D. Pa. July 24, 2014).

Print:
Email this postTweet this postLike this postShare this post on LinkedIn
Photo of Tulio Chirinos Tulio Chirinos

Tulio D. Chirinos is an associate in the Labor & Employment Law Department and a member of the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group and the Workplace Investigations Practice Group.

Tulio works on a wide variety of ERISA and non-ERISA plan litigation matters…

Tulio D. Chirinos is an associate in the Labor & Employment Law Department and a member of the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group and the Workplace Investigations Practice Group.

Tulio works on a wide variety of ERISA and non-ERISA plan litigation matters, including fee and investment litigation cases, breach of fiduciary duty claims and benefits claims. He also represents management in workplace investigations and litigation of employment-related matters, including claims of unlawful discrimination, harassment and retaliation. Tulio focuses his pro bono efforts on immigration matters where he has represented several juveniles from Central America in their asylum petitions and special immigrant juvenile status (SIJ) petitions.

Tulio is the author of several ERISA-related articles, including several focusing on ERISA fee and investment litigation that appeared in the Benefits Law Journal (2016-2023), Bloomberg BNA, and Law360. He is a contributing author to Chapter 10 (Fiduciary Responsibility) of BNA’s Employee Benefits Law treatise. He is also the co-editor and a frequent contributor to Proskauer’s Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Blog.

Prior to joining Proskauer, Tulio clerked for the Federal Public Defender’s office for the Middle District of Florida. Tulio is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the Army National Guard and served three tours of duty in Iraq, Kuwait, and Jordan.