Do I have a case (TX)?
Location: Texas
Employment law question
Timeline of events:
Early Q4 2025: formally emailed HR and requested ADA accommodations for 2 covered mental health disabilities
Very Late Q4 2025: received HR email requesting more medical information but temporarily approving some accommodation requests. The email demanded the additional info with 8 days, during the week of Christmas. I reached out to HR and explained that my Dr was booked out until March and the best I could do was change my monthly virtual appt (scheduled for Jan26) to an in person appt in order to get the additional paperwork filled out. HR agreed to be wait until my Jan appt for the paperwork.
This is where it gets convoluted: very shortly after I submitted the ADA accommodation request, I started experiencing chronic physical pain
By the time the end of the 2025 rolled around, I was no longer able to work my hybrid schedule. I need to take frequent breaks throughout the day to rest in bed to help alleviate some of the pain. I communicated this with my boss and began seeing a chiropractor 3x/wk for help who was providing me with weekly WFH notes, of which I provided to my boss every week.
During my conversation with HR in very late Q4 2025, I explained that I had another situation that was NOT related to the ADA Accommodations I was requesting but that was effecting my physical health and my ability to work in office. I told her I was regularly communicating with my boss about this and was providing him notes from my chiropractor but wanted to make sure I was covering all p's and q's and ensure HR didn't need anything additional from me. I was assured that as long as I was communicating with my boss, HR did not want to get involved.
In Q1 2026, I went to my mental health doctor, got the additional paperwork for my ADA Accommodations request and provided them to HR, asking for confirmation that this was sufficient for them and I did not need to supply anything else. I never received a response.
In the same month, HR demanded that I come into the office to take a meeting with HR, my boss and his boss in order to get everyone on the same page regarding my (at that point 100% WFH status). I had since stopped seeing a chiropractor and was providing WFH notes from my PCP, per HRs request and was trying to get insurance to approve a MRI test. They denied the order my chiro sent in, stating it didn't show proof of "medical necessity" and were considering my PCPs MRI order. During the in-person meeting (I had a note from my Dr that I needed to be WFH but HR still insisted I attend in person), in which neither the HR rep attended at all, and my boss's boss called in through Teams, I told them (I have the recording) that I could no longer work OT hours, that certain parts of my job required OT hours, and that my health had deteriorated to where I couldn't work even 40 hours/wk, but we had one of those required OT hours work process coming up soon. No support for me was discussed.
In mid-Q1 2026, when I failed miserably to meet my deadlines during the required OT job process, I received an ambiguous email from HR that made it sound like they were no longer approving my WFH status. Attached to the email was FMLA paperwork with a deadline of having them completed and returned "if I needed to". I sent 4 emails asking for clarification and got no response, so I spent 2 weeks not working and trying to get an answer from them. I also went to my PCP, had her fill out the FMLA doc's and returned them prior to the due date. On the day I returned them, my boss placed me on a PIP. I argued that I could not meet the requirements of the PIP based on the limitations of both my FMLA intermittent leave from my PCP and the accommodations I had requested back in 2025.
Approximately 2-3 weeks later, the PIP was redrafted and a meeting set between my boss, the HR rep and myself, to discuss how THIS PIP accommodated my FMLA reduced hour schedule and WFH directive, was extended from 30 days to 45 days and, even though it was based on my performance during our required OT hours job process that occurred in mid-Q1 2026, it was in no way discrimination or retaliatory in nature amd perfectly legit.
My FMLA documentation, which I'd heard nothing about since turning it into HR, was suddenly approved and BACKDATED to the very first appointment I had with my PCP, clearly covering the time frame in which the performance problems that caused the PIP had been based on, and the FMLA expiration date was set for the last day of Q1 2026, which was only 2 weeks away.
I finally paid out of pocket to get my MRI done since I wasn't getting any traction with the insurance company and had an appointment scheduled with a pain mgmt Dr for the last day of Q1 2026 to review the MRI results.
Keep in mind - all the medical experts I'd seen so far for this issue (4) and I thought it had something to do with a herniated or bulging or slipped disk. I had been on mild pain killers, muscle relaxers, anti-inflammatories and corticosteroids since January and had seen no improvement. The general belief was that I needed a steroid injection into my vertebrae and then physical therapy.
Which is why, when I went to the doctor appointment on the last day of Q1 2026, I was stunned to learn that I had metastasized cancer.
The beginning of Q2 2026 was a whirlwind of doctors visits and tests, scans, images, bloodwork...everything. All while managing my reduced work load and, considering the stage 4 breast cancer diagnosis slapped on me, I pulled off pretty well.
However, before my PIP expired, and before I even got the approval to extend my FMLA (of which I was provided papers and turned in on time), I was terminated due to my performance.
My main question here is: I know it is not illegal to be an asshole and fire someone for no reason or any reason at all, and these guys were definitely assholes for how they went about things, but did they break any laws? It's not against the law to be an asshole, I get that.