A grieving mother has claimed she was fired from her banking job of 30 years while she was on Family Medical Leave to take care of her dying daughter battling breast cancer.
According to WZZM 13, Terri Estepp, a former longtime employee of Huntington Bank, used up the majority of her vacation days and paid time off to tend to her daughter Samantha who was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer while living in California in April 2023.
It was gathered that her daughter’s condition worsened a year later.
Estepp said she used four of her 12 weeks of the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), a federal law that requires employers to provide job-protected, unpaid leave for medical and family reasons to be with her daughter while she underwent treatment.
When she returned to work, she told the bank’s management she needed more time off to be with Samantha. That same day, Estepp said she was fired following years of dedicated service to the bank.
“I was in complete shock. I was not ready for anything like this,” Estepp revealed.
“I requested medical leave or Family Medical Leave Act. My previous boss had recommended that I do that, just in case I needed to take any spur-the-moment time off to care for my daughter.”
She also narrated how her daughter Samantha blamed herself for her mom losing her job.
“It really hurt her. She started to cry on the phone. She said, ‘Mom, you lost your job because of me,’” the heartbroken mother told the outlet while fighting back tears.
Samantha died of breast cancer in 2024. She was 31 years old.
“Within ten days of them letting me go, my daughter passed away,” she told the outlet.
Estepp claims she was never given a reason for her firing.
Her attorney, Sarah Prescott, filed a lawsuit against Huntington Bank on Monday, alleging that the grieving mother, who was trying to be there for her dying daughter was fired for using the FMLA.
“She represented through her bank, 6,000 plus different businesses, families at any given time,” Prescott said of her client.
“I want people to know that what they did was wrong, so they don’t do this to someone else,” Estepp told Click on Detroit.
A Huntington Bank spokesperson told Click on Detroit that they “were saddened to learn of her daughter’s passing and extend our condolences to Ms. Estepp and her family.”
“While Huntington Bank does not comment on active litigation, we are committed to compliance with all employment laws, including the Family and Medical Leave Act, and we acted appropriately in this matter,” the bank said.
“Ms. Estepp’s departure from Huntington Bank was unrelated to an FMLA leave of absence.”
