She says management warned her off HR - then made her ignoring that order cost her
A former director says her employer told her to steer clear of HR - and then made her pay for ignoring that.
Sherriee Detzler, who worked as a National Director at AccessLex Institute, has taken the legal-education organization to federal court, accusing it of age discrimination, a hostile work environment, and retaliation. Her complaint was filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on June 25, 2026.
According to the filing, Detzler joined AccessLex in March 2021 and was promoted to National Director the following June. She alleges that her treatment then diverged sharply from that of younger colleagues. She says she was judged against tougher standards, handed a territory "more than triple in size" that of another National Director two decades her junior, and subjected to policies "applied retroactively only to" her.
The complaint is built around a string of age-tinged remarks it attributes to named managers, referred to here by role. Detzler alleges a Vice President of Operations described her as "like an old dog with a bone." She says a Managing Director told colleagues on team calls, "We've got to get someone hired in your region before you have a heart attack at your age!" - and, when she pushed back, said, "You know I like to joke." She also alleges that a Managing Director remarked at a meeting that "anyone over 60 doesn't even know what a 'hyperlink' is!"
But for HR leaders, the comments may be less alarming than what Detzler says happened around the complaints process itself. She claims higher management instructed her that she "was not to contact Human Resources or go to higher management with any complaints, including claims of discrimination." A Senior Vice President, she alleges, later told staff to "keep it in house" and bring concerns only to their immediate manager.
That sets up the retaliation claim. The filing says that once Detzler did reach out to HR, her manager phoned her to relay that the contact had triggered a Senior Vice President's dissatisfaction - and that she was then cut off from new direct reports and workload balancing. Detzler says the conditions became untenable, forcing a resignation she frames as a constructive discharge, meaning she felt she had no realistic choice but to quit.
Her suit raises two counts: one under the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act, which prohibits age bias at work, and one under Michigan's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, the state's parallel anti-discrimination statute. She is seeking back pay, front pay, lost benefits, and emotional distress, exemplary, and punitive damages, along with costs and attorney's fees.
The case is a pointed reminder for HR functions: a policy or culture that steers employees away from HR can become the centerpiece of a discrimination suit, especially when contacting HR is followed by adverse treatment. The independence and accessibility of the complaints channel is not a nicety - it is a legal exposure point.
The allegations have not been tested, and no court has ruled.
