Stage-4 Cancer Survivor Wins $3.26 Million After Being Fired Two Days After Asking to Work From Home

Linda O'Brien was working as a financial coordinator for Orthodontic Excellence, a group of orthodontic and dental clinics across western Washington owned by Dr. Mahadeep Virk and Helena Skountrianos, when she received a breast cancer diagnosis in May 2019. Two months later her oncologist confirmed the cancer was stage 4. Her doctors told her she could continue working full-time through treatment, and she did.

As her immune system weakened from chemotherapy, O'Brien contracted shingles in October 2019. Shingles is contagious, and one of her colleagues was pregnant. O'Brien asked her employers if she could work from home until she recovered, a modest accommodation to protect a co-worker at heightened risk. Two days later, Virk and Skountrianos fired her.

O'Brien brought claims in King County Superior Court for disability discrimination, failure to reasonably accommodate a disabled employee, and retaliation, all under Washington law. At trial, attorneys Elizabeth Hanley and Joe Solseng of Schroeter Goldmark and Bender presented the sequence of events to the jury: a long-tenured employee, a documented disability, a simple accommodation request, and a termination that followed within 48 hours. The defendants disputed the framing, but the jury found the employers' conduct unlawful across all three theories of liability, holding Virk, Skountrianos, and their related business entities jointly responsible.

In May 2023 the jury returned a 10-to-2 verdict and awarded O'Brien $3,263,230 in total damages. No post-verdict reduction has been reported in public records or press coverage.

After the verdict O'Brien spoke publicly about her decision to pursue the case: 'I couldn't sit by and let somebody treat me as if I didn't matter because I do matter. We all matter.'