YOUNGSTOWN — A Girard woman who lost her job as a radiologic technologist at Northside Medical Center during 2018 layoffs, prior to its closing, has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the owner of the former hospital and the leadership of SEIU / District Local 1199 union for wrongful termination and representation.

According to the federal complaint filed earlier this year by Lori J. Cook, 62, the woman alleges her employer, Steward Health Care, had breached the collective bargaining agreement when she was discharged on July 23, 2018, and her union representative failed to file a grievance for her in this case.

The lawsuit also noted that Cook’s age was a motivating factor in the hospital’s decision to terminate her employment and replace her with a “less experienced and substantially younger” person.

The lawyers in the case met over the telephone last week and U.S. District Judge Benita Y. Pearson set a trial for June 7, 2021, with the next teleconference among the parties set for noon June 18, 2020, and a final pretrial hearing set for May 12, 2021. Pearson told the parties they should consider mediating the issues in the case.

Cook, who had been working at Northside since 1992, is seeking back pay and benefits as well as incidental and emotional distress damages — plus reinstatement with job seniority and benefits. At the time of her termination, Cook was making $25.12 per hour.

Northside was closed by Steward Health Care on Sept. 20, 2018.

The lawsuit stated before her firing, Cook’s hours were reduced to 32 hours per week at two different locations, two shifts at Northside and two shifts at Austintown Urgent Care. When Cook and 10 other employees were notified July 15, 2018, of being laid off, she assumed she would continue to work in Austintown because her job at the Center for Breast Health would be relocated to Austintown.

After Cook’s discharge, the lawsuit claimed her job was listed on indeed.com as a nonunion job.

According to the lawsuit, her assistant gave up her union membership to apply for the nonunion position, and she was ultimately hired at Austintown Urgent Care. At the time of the layoff, Cook and her co-workers at Northside were assured by their union leadership that their discharge was in violation of the contract and that a grievance would be filed. But the suit states the union steward never filed the grievance and Cook’s followup calls and emails to the union steward went unanswered.

Cook is being represented by Warren attorney Irene K. Makridis.

The defendants’ lawyers, Elizabeth Stock of Columbus, representing Steward, and Catherine J. Harshman of Columbus, representing the union, were each contacted for comment, but did not respond.

Makridis is also representing another former Steward employee, Jeanne King of Bazetta, who was fired in 2017 as an emergency room nurse at Trumbull Regional Medical Center.

In her lawsuit, King claims she was unjustly let go from her job because the human resources office wouldn’t provide payroll data for King’s application for family leave because of her asthma. That federal lawsuit, in which King is asking for damages of not more than $250,000 including back pay, is pending in U.S. District Court in Youngstown.

gvogrin@tribtoday.com