A former employee is suing the University of Alabama at Birmingham, alleging she experienced gender discrimination and was fired after she experienced a medical issue.

Mitzi Pitzing, a former program director, filed a federal lawsuit against UAB in October 2024, alleging she qualified for medical leave and protections under the Family and Medical Leave Act but was not allowed to use all of her benefits.

“Defendant’s intentional retaliation against Plaintiff for exercising her rights under the FMLA resulted in the termination of her employment,” the suit states.

Pitzing says she received positive work evaluations and was repeatedly promoted. She began working for the medical school in 2014 and had previously worked other roles across the University of Alabama System.

“Ms. Pitzing worked diligently through several personal medical crises, and put up with disparaging comments about her wife,” the suit said.

Her allegations against the school focus on her former boss, Dr. Jean Ann Larson, then an associate dean at the School of Medicine. She claimed that in 2019, she was asked to work from her hospital bed.

Pitzing also claimed she hurt her back at work in 2023 and was required to attend work events despite being told by a doctor to stay home. The suit claims she was fired later in 2023 as retaliation, an allegation the university denies.

“All employment decisions at issue relating to Plaintiff were based on legitimate, non-discriminatory, non-retaliatory business reasons that were not pretextual,” the school said to AL.com in its response in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit says Larson created a hostile work environment, criticizing Pitzing’s personal life in work meetings, with statements such as, “you need to pick a better partner,” and “you need to stop taking care of your children.”

In court filings, UAB denied Pitzing’s claims, including the claim that Pitzing had had only positive evaluations. It denied that Larson had made disparaging comments about Pitzing’s personal life.

Pitzing’s attorney, John Saxon, said UAB is a great institution but sometimes gets things wrong.

“Unfortunately, that happened in Mitzi’s case. And it is particularly ironic, and a bit sad, that it happened in the Leadership Development Office of the School of Medicine.”

UAB spokesperson Adam Pope said the school could not comment about pending litigation.

“UAB is committed to providing a positive work environment in which all faculty and staff are respected and supported,” he said.