A former Smyrna School District employee is suing the district, saying she was fired because of a disability.

Attorney Ronald G. Poliquin filed the suit in Federal District Court for Donna Liberto, a former child nutrition worker, saying that her termination was a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Poliquin said the Delaware Department of Labor and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission formally found that the district discriminated against Liberto because of her perceived disability.

Poliquin said he has both a voice mail recording and a letter from District Child Nutrition Supervisor Patricia Conley confirming that Liberto was terminated because of a medical condition.

“Very few times does a plaintiff possess direct evidence of discrimination in a case such as this,” said Poliquin. “This is no ‘he said, she said’ dispute. Here, Conley both through a letter and voicemail confirms that Liberto was terminated because of a disability.”

“The Department of Labor decided it was discrimination, the EEOC decided it was discrimination, and we expect a jury to decide it was discrimination,” said Poliquin. “The real shame is that the taxpayers of the district will be footing the bill for the district’s stubbornness not to resolve this matter in a fair way.”

Smyrna School District officials declined to comment, saying they can’t publicly discuss personnel matters.