By Eddie Gregg at The Billings Gazette March 18, 2014

An investigation by the Montana Human Rights Bureau has determined that a Helena employee of CTA Architects has “reasonable cause” to believe the company discriminated against her because of health conditions.

The investigator in the case found the “preponderance of the evidence” supports Michelle Campbell’s claim that CTA “cut her hours and eliminated her medical insurance benefit in March 2013 because she disclosed she was pregnant and recently diagnosed with MS.”

Scott Wilson, president of CTA, said Monday he couldn’t discuss any employee issues, adding: “We do deny any discrimination or any wrongdoing” in the case.

Campbell started working as a full-time administrative assistant in CTA’s Helena office in 2009. The Billings-based company has 18 offices across the U.S. and in Canada.

According to the Human Rights Bureau report, Campbell’s employer reduced her position from 40 hours a week to 16 hours a week shortly after she informed her superiors of her pregnancy and diagnosis.

The report states that CTA officials told an investigator that Campbell’s job was reduced to part time as part of a companywide office restructuring triggered by budgeting problems and a projected shortage of work.

The eight-page report was signed on Jan. 14, which gave the parties involved 30 days to reach a settlement. No settlement was reached, so the case will go before a hearing examiner appointed by the Hearings Bureau of the state Department of Labor and Industry.

Wilson said the hearing hasn’t been scheduled, but he is confident CTA will prevail.
Campbell’s attorney, Todd Shea, of Bozeman, said that his client hasn’t been terminated from her job, but that she no longer works in the Helena office.

Since her diagnosis, Campbell has racked up more than $25,000 in outstanding medical bills, according to Shea.

Shea said Tuesday the amount of damages sought in the case hasn’t been determined.
“She cannot get her recommended treatment and medication for her MS treatment as she has no insurance and very little money after her hours were reduced,” Shea wrote in an email to The Gazette. “This has resulted in the exacerbation of her MS symptoms.”