Former bus driver sues First Student, alleging discrimination

A former First Student bus driver who had heart surgery last year is suing the bus company over alleged disability discrimination.

Don Nelson, a Howard County resident, filed the lawsuit in Boone County on Tuesday, where part of his work took place. Nelson claims First Student fired him due to his recent heart surgery stemming from exposure to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, despite clearances doctors gave him to return to work.

“All he wanted to do was go back to his regular job,” Nelson’s lawyer, Joanna Trachtenberg, told ABC 17 News on Thursday. “But instead, he’s had tremendous problems.”

The bus Nelson drove served Delmar Cobble School for the Severely Disabled in Columbia, which is operated by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Nelson worked the “Moberly route,” which involved picking up students as far north as Macon, Trachtenberg said.

Nelson was put on medical leave last year for hemorrhagic pericarditis, a side effect of leukemia he developed after being exposed to the defoliant Agent Orange, the lawsuit said. Nelson had received medical leave two other times in 2016. The hospital released Nelson from surgery on Jan. 6, 2017, and he recovered at home until Feb. 20. That day, his doctor allowed him to return to work with no medical restrictions, Trachtenberg said.

Nelson’s boss, Frank Underwood, said he wanted further medical clearance from First Student’s contracted doctor at Mid America Labs, according to the lawsuit. After getting some information from his doctor, Nelson was cleared to return to work by Mid America Labs on Feb. 23.

But when Nelson returned to First Student’s office in Jefferson City, Underwood said he “had not expected” the doctor to release him for work, and fired him, according to the lawsuit.

“For no apparent reason, other than his boss’s non-medically informed opinion that he wasn’t ready to go back to work, he finds himself fired from his job,” Trachtenberg said.

A spokesman for First Student said the company does not comment on active litigation.

The lawsuit claims First Student and Underwood discriminated against Nelson because of an “actual or perceived” disability based on his surgery. The petition calls for punitive damages against the company and for Nelson to get his job back.