A former legal assistant in Stevens & Lee's Harrisburg office is suing the firm for firing her shortly after she returned from maternity leave, alleging discrimination and violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Alicia Drees filed the complaint Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. She was employed at the firm from July 2015 until March 2017.

According to the complaint, Drees informed the firm in May 2016 that she was pregnant and applied for maternity leave under the FMLA. She started her leave in mid-December and returned in early March 2017.

In her suit, Drees said she and her two children experienced a number of medical issues throughout her maternity leave, which required surgeries and follow-up appointments, some of which were scheduled after Drees was scheduled to return to work at the law firm.

While she was still on maternity leave, the complaint said, Drees communicated with her supervisors, human relations employees Tammy Arner and Kim DuBois, about the upcoming appointments. That included a surgery she scheduled for March 16, for which she asked to have half of that day and the next full day off.

Shortly after she returned from maternity leave, Drees became sick with a sinus infection and called out from the firm for two days on March 6 and 7, the complaint said. Then, on March 16, when she was planning to leave early for her surgery, the complaint said, she was called into a meeting and fired.

During that meeting, the complaint said, Arner and DuBois said Drees was being fired because she was unreliable.

Drees offered to cancel her surgery if she could keep her job, the complaint said. Arner then accused Drees of abusing the firm's lactation break policy, taking more than the two 30-minute breaks she was allowed to take in lieu of a one-hour lunch break, the complaint said. DuBois said Drees was “'stealing' time from Stevens & Lee,” Drees alleged.

According to the complaint, Arner also stated that Drees' supervising attorneys decided that one legal assistant was sufficient to handle all of the attorneys' and consultants' work, so Drees wasn't needed.

Drees is suing the firm for sex discrimination and retaliation under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, FMLA violations and disability discrimination. She wants her old job back, compensation for lost wages and benefits and punitive damages, among other relief. She is represented by Bradford Dorrance of Keefer Wood Allen & Rahal.

Stevens & Lee did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the complaint Tuesday.

Dorrance also did not return a call for comment.

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