Her manager approved the recordings. Then HR cited them in the termination letter
A product manager says Dow Jones fired her for recording meetings - the same practice she had flagged as a disability accommodation.
The worker, who held a director-level role at Dow Jones for more than seven years, filed a federal lawsuit on November 9, 2026 in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. The complaint alleges disability discrimination, failure to accommodate, retaliation, and interference with medical leave rights.
According to the filing, the worker has documented disabilities including ADHD, depression, anxiety, and auditory processing limitations. These conditions, the complaint states, make it difficult for her to reliably process and retain spoken information in meetings without recording and transcription support.
She started at Dow Jones in approximately August 2018, was promoted from Senior Product Manager to Director, and earned around $180,000 a year plus bonus compensation, per the complaint.
The accommodation trail started in September 2024 when she formally requested a flexible schedule for medical appointments through the company's HR system. Dow Jones granted that request.
The recording question is where things get complicated.
The complaint alleges her then-manager approved her use of meeting recordings as a disability accommodation for her auditory processing limitations. He knew she recorded meetings and, according to the filing, never told her it violated any company policy.
That manager was later laid off. When a new manager took over, the worker says she disclosed her recording practice and explained it was an ADA accommodation. The new manager did not tell her to stop, did not discipline her for it, and did not say the practice broke any rules, the complaint states.
In July 2025, she submitted a request to bring her psychiatric service animal to the workplace - an animal she says is trained to interrupt anxiety and panic episodes. The filing alleges Dow Jones's third-party benefits administrator closed the request but noted that only Dow Jones itself had authority to approve or deny it. As of her termination, the complaint states, Dow Jones still had not given her a written answer on that request.
Then came the discipline.
On August 20, 2025 - the same day HR acknowledged her pending accommodation request in writing - the worker received a verbal warning citing alleged performance concerns, per the complaint. During that meeting, she again disclosed she was recording because of her ADHD and auditory processing limitations. No one objected or told her to stop, the filing states.
A week later, Dow Jones changed her title from Director to Senior Principal Product Manager. The complaint describes this as a demotion, with a loss of managerial responsibilities.
She was also placed on a progressive disciplinary track - a structured escalation process where each step moves the employee closer to termination.
In September 2025, the worker went on short-term disability leave. The day after leave began, she emailed a senior HR business partner raising concerns of "discriminatory and retaliatory actions related to my disability," according to the filing.
When she tried to transfer to a different team in December 2025, Dow Jones denied the request because her disciplinary status meant she was not in "good standing," the complaint alleges. That effectively blocked her from moving away from the manager she had accused of discrimination.
After returning from leave, the worker alleges she faced heightened scrutiny: frequent check-ins not required of other team members, exclusion from meetings, and close monitoring of her calendar and response times. She received a written warning in February 2026, which she disputed, the filing states.
Also in February 2026, the complaint alleges the worker met with Dow Jones's Employee and Labor Relations department, raised her disabilities and accommodation needs, discussed her recording practice, and complained of discrimination and bias. She asked for a formal investigation.
According to the filing, no one at that meeting objected to her recording or said it violated any policy.
Dow Jones terminated her on March 27, 2026. The stated reasons, per the complaint, included alleged non-responsiveness, taking time off without prior approval, recording meetings without participant consent - including a meeting involving company legal counsel - and using unauthorized third-party transcription software. The termination letter cited Dow Jones's Global Acceptable Use Policy and its AI Policy and Protocols.
The complaint alleges the worker never received training on the AI Policy provisions Dow Jones relied on to fire her, and that no one had ever cited those policies in connection with her recording practice before the termination.
The meeting involving legal counsel referenced in the termination letter, the filing alleges, was the very February 2026 meeting where the worker complained of discrimination and asked for an investigation.
The complaint also alleges that other Dow Jones employees recorded meetings or used third-party transcription and AI tools without being disciplined or terminated.
The worker brings twelve causes of action under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the New York State Human Rights Law, and the New York City Human Rights Law. She seeks back pay, front pay, compensatory and punitive damages, attorneys' fees, and other relief.
For HR teams drafting or enforcing AI and recording policies, this case lands on a question many are navigating right now: what happens when a workplace technology rule collides with a disability accommodation - and whether the employer tried to work it out before reaching for the termination button.
The allegations in the complaint have not been tested, and no court has made any findings or rulings on the merits.
