She came back with restrictions – then the write-ups started
Amazon allegedly fired a warehouse worker who came back from stroke leave still needing restrictions.
A former Amazon fulfillment center employee has filed a federal lawsuit claiming the company terminated her instead of continuing to work around her disability.
The complaint, filed September 10, 2026, in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey, says the worker started at Amazon’s Carteret, New Jersey, facility in October 2020 as a stowing employee. According to the filing, she suffered a stroke in December 2024 that left her unable to fully use or close her left hand.
Amazon approved roughly six months of leave, including time protected under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) – a federal law guaranteeing eligible workers unpaid, job-protected time off for serious health conditions – so she could recover, the complaint states.
She returned to the job around June 2025 with doctor-ordered restrictions, according to the filing. She could not push, pull, lift, or carry more than 20 pounds, and she could not work overtime. The complaint says Amazon agreed to those conditions. She renewed them monthly through her doctor, and the company stayed on continuous notice of her ongoing needs, the filing states.
What happened next, according to the complaint, follows a pattern HR professionals will recognize. In November 2025, Amazon scheduled her for more than 40 hours in certain weeks despite the overtime cap. The filing says the worker told her supervisor she could not exceed 40 hours because of her accommodation. Weeks before her termination and still in November, Amazon hit her with two write-ups in quick succession, the complaint alleges, even though the company knew her medical restrictions limited her work pace.
In December 2025, the complaint says Amazon again scheduled her beyond 40 hours. On or about December 15, 2025, according to the filing, Amazon ended her employment on what the complaint calls a “false and pretextual basis” rather than keep her accommodations in place.
The lawsuit raises seven separate claims under both federal and New Jersey state law. On the federal side, the complaint alleges Amazon violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by discriminating against the worker because of her disability, retaliating against her for requesting accommodations, and failing to accommodate her. It also alleges Amazon violated the FMLA by retaliating against her for taking protected medical leave. Under New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination, the complaint brings matching claims of disability discrimination, retaliation, and failure to accommodate.
At the core of the filing is the allegation that the termination was driven by the worker’s disability and by the fact that she kept asking for and using the accommodations her doctors said she needed.
The worker is seeking damages for lost income and emotional distress, punitive damages, back pay and future earnings, reinstatement or equivalent pay going forward, and attorneys’ fees. She filed a charge of discrimination with the EEOC on September 4, 2026, and the agency issued a right-to-sue notice on September 8, 2026, according to the filing.
These allegations have not been tested, and no court has ruled on the claims.
