Former Mohegan Sun worker loses appeal in firing
A former Mohegan Sun security officer who filed age and sex discrimination claims against the casino after her 2010 firing has gotten no relief in federal courts.
In a decision reported last week by the Connecticut Law Tribune, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district judge’s dismissal of the claims, based on the Mohegan Tribe’s sovereign immunity from lawsuits.
A three-judge panel issued the ruling April 7 in New York.
Elizabeth Tremblay of Griswold, who filed the original suit in 2012, was fired for allegedly ignoring and being rude to a casino patron who sought assistance in a gaming area. Tremblay, who was 55 at the time, denied the allegations, claiming she was dismissed because of her age and amid favoritism shown male employees.
In ruling that Tremblay was eligible to receive unemployment compensation benefits, a state administrator found that Mohegan Sun fired her “for reasons other than willful misconduct.”
Tremblay, who represented herself in the court case, claimed she lost her home and suffered health problems as a result of her firing.
“Mohegan Sun should not be allowed to do the things they do,” she wrote in a filing.
The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority sought dismissal of Tremblay’s claims, citing its sovereign immunity.
"As a matter of federal law, an Indian tribe is subject to suit only where Congress has authorized the suit or the tribe has waived its immunity," U.S. District Judge Robert Chatigny wrote in a May 2014 decision granting the dismissal.
The appeals panel backed Chatigny’s finding that the tribe was subject to neither the Age Discrimination in Employment Act nor Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which bans employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
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