“Cancer doesn’t just go away . . . Get rid of her,” said Dana Nielsen, Ameriserve President, according to Sworn Witness

After a wave of public outcry over allegations that Ameriserve International, an organization whose mission is to serve those with intellectual disabilities, fired an employee for having cancer, a former Ameriserve manager has reached out with damning evidence confirming that cancer patient and former employee Megan Purcell was illegally fired because of her diagnosis—on order of Ameriserve President Dana Nielsen.

The former manager, who resigned from Ameriserve in disgust over its toxic environment, explains in her sworn statement that she was in the room when Ameriserve Executive Director and President Dana Nielsen gave the instruction to fire Ms. Purcell because she had cancer:

I was in [Vice President] Eric Seitz’s office with Eric, and Dana Nielsen popped his head in the doorway. Nielsen stated: “Megan Purcell has cancer. Get rid of her.” I responded to the effect of, “She has colon cancer, and has a procedure scheduled to treat it.” Nielsen then responded, “Colon cancer doesn’t just go away. Our insurance policy already went up with [another employee’s] kidney shit. Get rid of her.”

Firing someone solely because she has a disability such as cancer is illegal under the ADA and Iowa law. Friedman & Houlding LLP has filed suit against Ameriserve for its illegal termination of an employee resulting from her cancer diagnosis.

The former manager suggests in her sworn statement a pattern of disdain for civil rights:

There was no Human Resources department at Ameriserve. . . . The blue folder [of complaints] maintained by Director Seitz was essentially a “black hole” for complaints of harassment and discrimination.

Ameriserve receives funding for some services from Iowa taxpayers—through the state share of the Medicaid payments it receives for its services. Its website describes its mission as helping people with “Intellectual Disabilities.” If you would like your Iowa elected representatives to investigate how Ameriserve treats its employees with disabilities, you can find your legislators and their email addresses through this website.

This is the second in a series of blog posts about the disability discrimination lawsuit against Ameriserve. Anyone who has experienced or witnessed discrimination at Ameriserve is encouraged to contact Friedman & Houlding LLP by filling out a form on our website friedmanhouldingllp.com, emailing attorney@friedmanhouldingllp.com or calling us at 212-308-4338.