Page 11 of Love Is Brewing

“As you should. You know where I am if you need anything. Keep me posted on filling positions and your workload.”

“I will,” she said, forcing a cheerful tone.

She was trying not to take offense that she had to report this back to her father.

When she was in Charlotte he was aware of her caseload. Her parents, as partners, knew everything happening at the firm.

She had to look at this no differently.

But deep down there was a part of her that worried her father would think she’d made a big mistake and this was costing the firm money if she couldn’t fill her caseload as heavily as she did before the move.

She looked up when there was a knock at her door. “Yes,” she said to Sophie.

“There is a man up front that would like to speak to you. He claims they fired him without reason. Or reasons he isn’t saying.He’d like to know what his legal recourse could be. Ellen is on a call, but I wasn’t sure if you could talk to him or not.”

Normally Ellen, her paralegal, would gather information on something like this and come to her to decide if it was a case they could take.

“I can meet with him,” she said, getting out of her chair. The rest of her work could wait.

“I’ll put him in the conference room,” Sophie said.

“Thanks,” she said. Phoebe got her laptop and a pad and pen, prepared to get to work.

“Hi,” the man said, standing up. “I’m Bill Riggins. Thank you for meeting with me on short notice like this. I’m sorry for just stopping in, but I’m not sure what to do.”

The older man was in jeans, a thick flannel jacket over a sweatshirt, and he’d placed his baseball hat on the desk. His hair was thinning and she could tell by the rough skin on his hand when they shook, that he’d worked hard his whole life.

“No problem,” she said. “I’ve got the time. Why don’t you tell me what is going on?”

“I work for a women’s health care provider. I do maintenance. Clean, fix things, general stuff. I’ve been employed there for about ten years. They used to have a few male doctors but now all the doctors are women. The nurses too.”

“Okay,” she said. “But you have nothing to do with patients, correct?”

“Right, ma’am,” Bill said, nodding his head. His accent was thicker than most in this area that she’d come across. “I’m normally there in the afternoon and then clean up the rest of the building after everyone leaves so it’s set for the morning.”

“In North Carolina, it’s an at-will state. They can terminate your employment for any reason as long as it’s not discrimination. What was the reason they gave you for termination, or did they not?”

“They said they no longer needed my services,” Bill said. “But then two days later they hired a woman to do what I was.”

“Do you know if the person has the same title and responsibilities?” she asked.

“I’m being told yes. I can’t reveal how I know, but there is someone there who is still talking to me. They let me go, and she’s upset about it. She overheard they want an all-female practice, even down to maintenance.”

Her head went back and forth. “This might not be easy to prove. I guess the first thing I need to know is what you are hoping to accomplish coming to me. Do you want your job back? Do you want some kind of settlement?”

“I loved my job, but I don’t think I can go back there knowing what they did,” Bill said. “I hate that I’d be the type of person to sue, but it’s difficult for someone my age with my health conditions to get a job. On top of it, I take care of my wife. She’s got dementia, so we’ve worked it out that I’m there to put her to bed at night and care for her in the morning.”

“Can I ask how old you are?” she asked.

“Fifty-nine,” Bill said. “Few people are willing to hire someone my age.”

This was just adding up to so many things in her mind. All hard to prove, but not so hard to hit them with some filings to get answers.

“Do you know how old your replacement is?”

“In her thirties, I think,” Bill said. “Not my age.”

“You mentioned health issues. Can I ask what?”

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