She misspelled an aunt's name on a bereavement form. Four days later, PNC fired her
A bank employee says she was fired over a misspelled name on a bereavement form. She's now suing PNC for FMLA and ADA violations.
Belinda Chambers filed suit on May 5, 2026, in the US District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, alleging PNC Bank terminated her in retaliation for using protected medical leave and asking for disability accommodations.
Chambers worked at PNC for about eight years, most recently as a senior internal support specialist earning approximately $48,000 a year. According to the complaint, she lives with anxiety, depression, and PTSD, and had taken FMLA leave in 2019, 2022, and 2023 to manage those conditions and a string of personal tragedies, including a sexual assault in 2020 and the deaths of two sisters in late 2022.
In January 2024, she asked for a workplace accommodation: an additional 15-minute break, as needed, to take medication. The filing states she submitted her physician's paperwork on January 26, 2024, followed up again in May, and was still awaiting a decision in August.
The case turns on a bereavement leave request. In late July 2024, two of Chambers' fiancé's family members - a great-uncle and an aunt - died within days of each other. Her supervisor approved the leave but, according to the complaint, asked for obituaries and daily email updates. In one email, Chambers spelled the deceased aunt's name "Erica" instead of "Erikka." She later explained, the filing says, that she had used the traditional spelling and had been under the impression that was how the name was spelled until she saw the obituary.
That single keystroke, the filing alleges, triggered everything that followed. On August 22, 2024, PNC HR representative Danielle Grossman called Chambers and questioned the family relationship, citing the misspelling and the fact that Chambers' fiancé did not share a surname with the deceased. According to the complaint, Grossman placed Chambers on same-day suspension and demanded her fiancé's birth certificate, a written breakdown of his family lineage, and additional obituaries showing matching names elsewhere in the family.
Chambers says she sent everything except the birth certificate, which her fiancé would not authorize. Four days later, on August 26, 2024, PNC fired her for "dishonesty."
The complaint argues the dishonesty rationale was a cover. It alleges the bereavement inquiry was disproportionate, that employees without FMLA history were not subjected to similar scrutiny, and that the termination landed while Chambers' intermittent FMLA request was still pending. Chambers also says earlier complaints to HR about two supervisors went nowhere. According to the filing, one of them, Celeste Griffin, told coworkers, "people die, people are sad every day, but this is a business and you need to focus on the numbers." A second, Dan Weber, allegedly told Chambers "nobody likes you."
Chambers brings three federal counts: ADA discrimination and retaliation, FMLA retaliation, and FMLA interference. She is seeking back pay, front pay, reinstatement or front pay in lieu, compensatory and punitive damages, liquidated damages, and attorneys' fees.
For HR leaders, the complaint reads like a stress test of routine leave administration. Bereavement verification is normal. The complaint alleges PNC pushed past normal, asking for a third party's birth certificate and a written family tree over a one-letter spelling difference. The timing also matters: the termination came while a documented accommodation request was open, the kind of overlap that fuels retaliation claims. And the filing alleges a clean comparator argument - that employees without leave history were not put through the same process.
PNC has not filed a response. The allegations have not been tested in court, and no court has ruled on any of the claims.
