Virginia Tech Worker Federal Bias Suit in Time Under State Rule – Bloomberg Law

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University must face a former employee’s federal lawsuit alleging he was fired because he was disabled by a double hernia and took leave for surgery, the Fourth Circuit ruled Monday.

The decision reviving John Massey’s claims under the federal Rehabilitation Act turned on an analysis of state law governing the time to refile in federal court a lawsuit that is initially brought in state court but then voluntarily dismissed by the plaintiff.

Virginia law grants such parties six months to refile an otherwise timely suit in federal court when the voluntary dismissal is their one …