A federal jury in Springfield last week awarded $300,000 to a former human resources director for CDS Office Technologies who says that she was fired in retaliation for telling the company that it was violating federal labor law. Michelle Kavanagh says that she was canned in July 2012, shortly after telling the company’s chief financial officer that computer technicians deserved overtime under federal labor law. She also suggested that the company create job descriptions for technicians and start conducting performance evaluations for employees. Kavanagh says that she was fired one week after giving the chief financial officer a report on the need to pay overtime. On her way out the door, she made copies of emails documenting her attempts to get CDS to correct what she saw as violations of labor law, then she sued. Kelly, who was employed by CDS for less than two years, found a new job in 15 weeks, according to Lance Jones, her attorney. “She thought she was trying to do the right thing in keeping them out of trouble and she got sacked for it,” Jones said. CDS in court documents says that Kavanagh was terminated because the company had outsourced payroll functions and consolidated job duties so that her position was no longer needed. Attorneys for the company could not be reached for comment.
This article appears in Dec 17-23, 2015.
