He reopened his workers' comp claim—and says Frito-Lay fired him days later
A Frito-Lay warehouse worker says he was fired days after reopening a workers' compensation claim, raising hard questions about injury reporting and retaliation.
Samuel Perez Figueroa filed suit against Rolling Frito-Lay Sales, LP on April 6, 2026, in the Eastern District of North Carolina (Case No. 5:26-cv-00226), alleging the company suspended and then terminated him after he sought treatment and accommodations for a knee injury he says he sustained on the job.
Figueroa was hired in May 2021 as a warehouse material handler and was later promoted to product supply lead. According to the filing, his trouble started on or about February 27, 2024, when he jumped to push in a case on a pallet and felt his right knee pop. He told his supervisor, Pedro Giron, about it that same day, with another employee, Angela Becht, also present for the conversation. His supervisor, he says, never told him he needed to submit a formal injury report.
For months, Figueroa kept working through the pain. An MRI in late October 2024 confirmed a torn meniscus and bone bruising in his right knee. When he brought the diagnosis to human resources in early November, he was told to file a workplace injury report. But his repeated attempts to do so were delayed by management, according to the filing. He finally completed the report on or about November 21, 2024 — and received a written warning the same day.
The sequence that followed is where the case gets especially instructive for HR teams.
In late December 2024, Figueroa reached out to HR about next steps for treatment and was directed to file for ADA accommodations. Then, on or about February 7, 2025, he called the workers' compensation claim center to dispute a characterization that he had refused medical treatment. He was told his claim would be reopened.
The next day, according to the filing, his manager and a local HR representative called him in and asked why he had contacted the claim center. The HR representative told him she would have preferred he pursue an ADA or FMLA route rather than the workers' compensation process.
Three days later, he was suspended. Three days after that — on or about February 14, 2025 — he was let go. The company cited false or inaccurate information and failure to timely report the injury as grounds for the termination. Figueroa denies both.
The suit alleges disability discrimination and failure to accommodate under the Americans with Disabilities Act, retaliation under both the ADA and North Carolina's Retaliatory Employment Discrimination Act, and wrongful discharge. Figueroa is seeking back pay, compensatory and punitive damages, and reinstatement. A jury trial has been demanded.
For HR professionals, the case underscores a familiar but often underestimated risk: the gap between a verbal injury report and a formal one — and what happens when disciplinary action follows closely behind an employee asserting a claim.
No determination on the merits has been made. Rolling Frito-Lay Sales, LP has not yet responded to the allegations in court.
