He scored 92% on his last review. Then he asked to work from home
A Veolia lawyer says he scored 92% on his last review. Then he asked to work from home — and lost his job.
Ryan Hagain spent nearly seven years as an in-house attorney at Veolia Water Municipal Services North America. According to a complaint filed May 15, 2026 in the Southern District of New York, he had strong reviews and steady bonuses to show for it - until a fall at home set off a chain of events that ended in his termination.
The filing says Hagain tripped over some cords on April 27, 2025, while watching his two young children, and landed awkwardly on his right foot. An urgent care X-ray confirmed a fracture the next morning. He told his supervisor, Jonathan Prince, and asked to work remotely while he got treatment. According to the complaint, Prince approved the request without asking for medical paperwork, consistent with what Hagain describes as Veolia's usual flexibility.
About a month later, the pain spread to his back and hip - symptoms Hagain says were similar to those that preceded a prior back surgery. The complaint says MRIs eventually pointed to bulging discs, and an X-ray later revealed a hip impingement. He was ultimately diagnosed with scar tissue, three bulging discs, and a hip impingement, the filing says.
Hagain kept logging in from his New York home, the complaint says, and kept Prince updated on appointments with an orthopedist, a pain specialist, and an orthopedic surgeon. He alleges he kept performing too. During this period, the filing says, he resolved a long-standing and complex mediation that had been causing significant financial losses for Veolia. He had also recently scored 92% on an evaluation, received consistent bonuses, and been praised in an email from an internal client.
Then came August 7, 2025. Hagain was scheduled to meet remotely with Prince and two senior HR leaders - Johanne Giannuzzi, Senior Director Human Resources Group Functions, and Seda Prezioso, Vice President of Human Resources, North America - over Google Meet. According to the complaint, Prince, who the filing describes as visibly nervous, told Hagain he was being let go for "poor performance." His last day was set for September 16, 2025.
Hagain alleges this was the first time in his roughly seven-year tenure that anyone at Veolia had raised a performance concern with him. When he asked for specifics, the complaint says Prince's explanation was vague, with no clear examples beyond a mention of a "claim that Mr. Hagain failed to enter information into a database."
FMLA leave, the filing says, never came up - not once during his employment, despite his eligibility in 2025.
Hagain argues the termination was retaliation for asking to work from home while he treated his injuries, and that "poor performance" served as a pretext. He sues 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. The EEOC issued his Right to Sue letter on May 5, 2026.
For HR professionals, the case touches familiar pressure points: a long-tenured employee with no documented performance issues on file, an accommodation request, a quick pivot to "poor performance," and FMLA eligibility that allegedly went unmentioned. It is the kind of timeline plaintiffs' lawyers build cases around - and the kind HR teams are advised to document carefully on the front end.
The allegations have not been tested in court. Veolia has not yet filed a response, and no court has ruled.
