He got the leave signed off - then says managers put him on the schedule anyway
A former T-Mobile worker says the company approved his mental-health leave, then scheduled him to work anyway - and let him go weeks later.
The former retail employee sued T-Mobile USA, Inc. on August 12, 2026, in federal court in North Carolina. According to the complaint, he accuses the wireless company of disability discrimination, failing to accommodate his condition, and retaliation, bringing claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and North Carolina's disability-protection law.
The worker started at T-Mobile in November 2015 as a retail sales associate and mobile expert, the filing says, working stores in Burlington, Salisbury, and Mebane. He was a key-holder who opened and closed the store and ran the sales floor when managers were out.
His difficulties began around December 2023 or January 2024, according to the complaint, when he started experiencing symptoms of major depressive disorder and severe depression. He alleges he was diagnosed and received ongoing treatment, and that his condition limited everyday activities including sleeping, concentrating, and keeping a regular schedule. He says he told managers about his mental-health struggles during a June 2024 mid-year review.
In May 2024, the complaint states, he asked for an accommodation through Broadspire, T-Mobile's outside leave administrator: one day of intermittent leave a week so he could get treatment and keep working. His healthcare providers certified the need and he submitted all the paperwork, the filing says, and the company approved the leave from July 12 through December 31, 2024, including one day off per week.
Then, he alleges, the approval broke down in practice. The complaint claims managers repeatedly scheduled him to work during his approved leave days and pressured him to show up. Several times in July 2024, he says, he told management he was using leave that had already been signed off - and was told staffing needs required him to work. According to the filing, the company treated his protected leave as ordinary attendance and scheduling issues.
The worker says he raised it internally on June 27, 2024, complaining through T-Mobile's Integrity Line that his approved leave was not being honored and that paid time off had been improperly removed from his account. The problem was not corrected, the complaint alleges.
On July 26, 2024 - roughly a month after that complaint - the company terminated him, according to the filing. He alleges the close timing points to a link between his protected activity and his firing, and that any reason the company gave was, in the words of the complaint, "a pretext for discrimination, retaliation, and interference with protected rights."
The suit brings six counts: three under the ADA, two under the FMLA, and one under the North Carolina Persons with Disabilities Protection Act. The worker is seeking reinstatement or front pay, back pay, compensatory and punitive damages, liquidated damages under the FMLA, and attorneys' fees.
For HR leaders, the alleged failure lands after the approval, not at it. The complaint describes leave granted on paper but, it says, overridden by the schedule - and an internal report that allegedly went nowhere. On the plaintiff's account, approving intermittent leave was only the start; shielding it from attendance discipline, training managers not to schedule over it, and acting on internal complaints are where accommodation duties get tested, and where the worker claims this employer fell short.
The allegations have not been tested, and no court has ruled on the claims.
