An associate vice president in the human resources department at San Francisco State University told faculty she worried that an employee of the college recovering from cancer had “chemo brain,” according to a lawsuit filed last month.
The complaint is one of many brought against SF State in the suit by Angela Sposito-Bernath, a long-time employee of the school’s Academic Senate Office.
“Could there be anything more stigmatizing or degrading,” Bryan Schwartz, who is representing Sposito, said during a phone interview.
A statement from the university’s lawyer said the school is fighting the claims.
“The University disagrees with the allegations in the complaint, which paint a false and misleading picture of Plaintiff’s work environment at SFSU,” the university’s lawyer, Daniel Ojeda, wrote. “A more complete account of the facts will show the University acted appropriately and Plaintiff’s claims lack merit.”
In 2014, Sposito received chemotherapy to treat a cancerous tumor. When she returned to work, the lawsuit alleges, she was treated differently — barred from going to meetings she’d previously attended, despite never having been told she’d done a bad job.
Earlier that year, before her cancer treatment, the lawsuit claims Sposito had received permission to bring her emotional support dog, Frankie, to school with her to work to help her anxiety. But the college’s president, Leslie Wong, allegedly said he didn’t want to be near the animal and tacitly questioned Sposito’s need for Frankie to be at work.
In the summer of 2015, Sposito began working under a new supervisor, Troi Carleton, who had just begun a term as the senate faculty chair. According to the lawsuit, Carleton allegedly told Sposito she had to quit because she was scared of finding her dead on the job. A couple of months later, Sposito was placed on administrative leave involuntarily.
While Sposito was out, the lawsuit claims, Ann Sherman, the associate vice president in human resources who has since changed jobs within the university, allegedly told two faculty members she thought Sposito suffered from “chemo brain.”
Eventually, in December 2016, the suit says, Sposito was permitted to return to work after yet another evaluation, but was transferred to a different job — in the H.R. department.
“This is just an awful way to treat a loyal employee,” Schwartz said. “It’s outrageous.”
