A 12-minute wait, then a walk past coworkers and a string of write-ups, the complaint says
A Subaru production associate says the company denied him an emergency restroom break, then penalized his attendance after he soiled himself.
That is the account laid out in a lawsuit filed July 3, 2026, against Subaru of Indiana Automotive in the US District Court for the Northern District of Indiana. The worker is asking for a jury trial, and his complaint lands squarely on two things HR teams manage every week: disability accommodation and medical leave.
The employee has worked as a production associate at the plant since March 2022, according to the filing. He says he has recurring pancreatitis with necrotizing pseudo-cysts, a condition he says damaged his pancreas and led to a Type 1 diabetes diagnosis in November 2025. He was approved for intermittent leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, the complaint says.
The episode at the heart of the case allegedly unfolded on July 16, 2025. The worker says he was walking to his workstation when a pancreatic attack hit. He told his group leader he needed an emergency restroom break connected to his FMLA condition, and, according to the complaint, she told him to wait for another team lead. He says he called the plant's help-request system, waited twelve minutes, and soiled himself before anyone came.
The aftermath is what should stop HR leaders. After the worker cleaned up and wrapped his soiled clothing in paper towels, the complaint says a team lead would not let him leave the building discreetly and instead walked him down the shop's main aisle, past dozens of coworkers. His group leader then warned that leaving to change clothes would count against his attendance, he says.
The filing describes a broader pattern. The employee alleges the company charged him attendance points for absences that FMLA should have covered, and sometimes revoked approved leave by saying his FMLA was used up. On or about June 2, 2025, he says he was written up for unexcused absences when five were FMLA-protected. After the July incident, he says, coworkers made jokes about his disability and managers did nothing when he complained.
He also alleges a run of discipline after he spoke up. Since his leave was approved and he filed a discrimination charge, the worker says he was written up four times over anonymous tips, each time signing a document he could not keep a copy of. When a doctor prescribed an app to track his blood sugar, a supervisor told him to leave his phone in his locker, the filing says; after a production manager overruled that, the supervisor scolded him for "going over her head."
The worker filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on or about September 23, 2025, and received a right-to-sue letter on May 27, 2026. His three counts cover the Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA retaliation, and the FMLA. He is seeking back pay, front pay, lost wages and benefits, compensatory and punitive damages, liquidated damages, interest, and attorney fees.
The lesson for HR is not exotic. The interactive process - the give-and-take an employer owes an employee over reasonable accommodations - a careful reading of no-fault attendance systems against protected leave, treating a medical app as the accommodation itself, and clean disciplinary paper trails are the places these cases live or die.
These are allegations. The worker's claims have not been tested in court, and no judge has ruled.
