NEW ORLEANS - The City of Westwego was sued in New Orleans federal court by a woman who accuses the city of age discrimination.
According to documents filed on March 17, plaintiff Sally Prejean is a Westwego resident and more than 40 years old. She worked for the city and says she had a good work history with no discipline record.
Prejean tore her rotator cuff while working in May of 2019 and went to an urgent care facility plus physical therapy and surgery for treatment. She was unable to work throughout the entire process of the injury and was cleared to return to work in February of 2020.
Despite the Westwego city handbook including policy about offering transitional work for injured employees to return to work, Prejean says she was told there was no suitable work for her, and that her position was being eliminated. The plaintiff was allegedly told she needed to either retire or be terminated.
Prejean says she was told that her position was being eliminated due to the digitization of meter reading. However, her position was in fact not eliminated and was filed with a newly hired younger woman, she says.
The city is charged with race discrimination, age discrimination, workers' compensation discrimination and retaliation.
Prejean is represented by Robein, Urann, Spencer, Picard and Cangemi APLC of Metairie.