HR was allegedly tracking his time off — but not his peers'. Then came the written warning
A former TIAA wealth advisor says the firm ignored his disability needs, tightened the screws on performance and then fired him.
The allegations come in a federal lawsuit filed February 16, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The filing, which follows an EEOC charge lodged on June 10, 2025, claims the financial services company failed to properly handle accommodation requests and the return-to-work process after multiple concussions.
Phillip Pham joined TIAA in November 2015 and worked as a wealth advisor until his termination on October 15, 2024. According to the lawsuit, he suffered three concussions during his time at the firm — in 2016, around September 2021 and on July 13, 2023. The first concussion allegedly left him with memory loss, delayed speech and slower mental processing. After the third, his physician concluded that his symptoms mirrored his earlier condition.
For HR leaders, the timeline that follows will feel uncomfortably familiar.
The filing says that on September 20, 2023, Pham gave TIAA a physician’s letter recommending reduced hours for one month, a gradual ramp back to full-time and blue screen protection for his equipment. The suit claims the company did not reduce his workload, making it impossible to work shorter hours without hurting his performance, and did not formally approve reduced hours until early 2024. Even then, the filing says, he still had more clients and asset amounts than other wealth advisors.
The relationship with his manager, Wealth Director Theresa Serafimovski, is at the center of the case. Pham alleges she told him not to take any time off during the holidays and instructed him to keep working when he tried to take sick days. According to the lawsuit, she also told him that human resources was tracking his time off, but that this level of scrutiny did not apply to his peers.
On July 19, 2024, Serafimovski issued a written warning. The filing says many of the issues raised were tied to his post-concussive symptoms. It also alleges that he was suddenly required to hit 100% of his targets within a few weeks, despite an earlier agreement that 85% would be acceptable, and that similar targets were not placed on his colleagues.
Pham’s doctor later recommended that his client load be reduced and that he avoid working through dinners. On August 16, 2024, he submitted another note reflecting those recommendations and, according to the lawsuit, spoke briefly with someone in HR. After that, he says, the process went quiet. The filing states that the company made no attempt to engage in an interactive process.
Two months later, on October 15, 2024, Pham was called into a meeting with Human Resources Director Ashley Bigham and Human Resources Manager Kristin Johnson. The lawsuit says he was terminated in that meeting and that his pending accommodation request was effectively dropped.
The filing also raises issues around benefits and offboarding. Pham says he was told his health benefits would continue through the end of October 2024, but when he tried to use his FSA card, it had been deactivated. He claims he asked for the lost amount to be refunded and never heard back.
Since his termination, Pham says he has worked as a business manager at Washtenaw Christian Academy from January to May 2025, earning $55,000 a year, and then started a life insurance company, Phamily Phinancial Group, in June 2025. He also alleges he has not yet been able to collect unemployment.
TIAA has not yet filed a response, and no court has weighed in on the claims. For HR executives, though, the lawsuit reads like a checklist of what can go wrong when accommodation requests, workload decisions, performance management and benefits administration are handled in silos rather than as part of a coherent, well-documented process.
