Fired Prosecutor Sues, Claims Ex-US Atty. Humiliated Him Over Sleepiness

A former assistant U.S. attorney claims in a federal lawsuit that he was banished to a job writing immigration briefs and then fired in retaliation for filing a discrimination complaint.

The former prosecutor, Paul Mansfield, claims he was humiliated and marginalized while suffering from sleep apnea and taking heart medications, the Philadelphia Daily News reports. The medical problems left Mansfield sleepy and unable to concentrate, he says, yet he was transferred from the organized crime unit to a job writing immigration briefs.

The suit names as defendants former U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan of Philadelphia and other supervisors in the office.

Mansfield was fired in 2007 after he filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging discrimination based on age and physical disabilities. The suit says he was pressured to drop the complaint and punished for mistakes while others were not, according to the story.