Insurer’s HR Executive Must Sit for Deposition in Job Bias Suit

A longtime Alfa Mutual Insurance Co. employee allegedly fired over the ongoing costs of her multiple sclerosis treatment was wrongly denied the chance to depose a former human resources executive who may have information relevant to her claim, the Eleventh Circuit ruled Monday.

Jennifer Akridge moved to compel Scott Forrest’s deposition at least 12 times in her Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuit, the court said.

But a federal judge in Alabama decided that she didn’t show Alfa decision-makers knew when they fired her in December 2016—allegedly because some of her job duties had become automated—how much she or any other ...