A Pennsylvania state hospital worker who challenges her firing before the Civil Service Commission and the Commonwealth Court — and loses — cannot later bring a federal claim of discrimination because she is barred by the doctrine of res judicata from contesting the finding that she was fired for cause, a federal judge has ruled.
In his 51-page decision in Bazargani v. Haverford State Hospital, U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno found that such a plaintiff cannot survive the burden-shifting framework of Title VII.
