'Pattern of negligence': Former MSU employee files lawsuit over medical leave

Montana State University faces a wrongful termination lawsuit over an alleged firing during protected medical leave from Jennifer Shahood, a former university accounting associate.

Shahood, who worked for MSU from 2023 until late 2025, said in a March 27 Gallatin County District Court filing that MSU illegally ended her employment while on an approved Family and Medical Leave Act absence. FMLA maintains group health insurance coverage, providing eligible employees with stints of unpaid, job-protected leave for family and medical reasons.

“I had great monthly reviews, I enjoyed my job, I was good at it and then all Hell broke loose,” said Shahood, who does not have legal counsel.

MSU confirmed to the Chronicle it is aware of the lawsuit. A spokesperson said the university could not comment on pending litigation and, by law, cannot comment on individual personnel matters.

Shahood, 55, also alleges that before she was fired MSU Human Resources inaccurately informed the Standard Insurance Company, her employer-provided health insurer, that she had quit. That caused a coverage gap before MSU terminated her employment during the approved FMLA leave, per Shahood.

“MSU lied and said I quit,” said Shahood, a Montana Tech graduate with separate accounting and human resources degrees. “MSU crippled me from receiving any type of insurance-covered treatment, delaying any type of therapy or healing.”

Shahood seeks $358,000 in damages for lost wages and benefits, credit rating impairment, emotional distress, reputational harm, litigation, investigation expenses, and any other damages proven at trial, per court documents.

Judge John C. Brown of the 18th District Court oversees the case. As of Thursday morning, no hearing date was scheduled.

Shahood says MSU could have allotted her definite treatment time without putting up a fight.

She accepted the MSU position in February 2023. Shahood filed a first partial FMLA leave request for pre-existing spinal injuries from a 2019 vehicle accident involving a Butte-Silver Bow road grader approximately 90 days into the job, after a probationary period.

Shahood said she maintains her condition with injections and other therapy. MSU approved her accommodation without resistance or delay, she said.

“That was accepted, processed, I was above-board, transparent, everybody knew what they were dealing with,” Shahood said. “I can work but then I get sick.”

Shahood’s pain was in a “manageable state” at the time.

Now a Medicaid recipient, Shahood suffers from cervicogenic migraines, headaches caused by an underlying neck injury, which she says can render her bedridden for two to five days at a time.

Shahood said her health changed for the worse when she was rear-ended by a MSU student while driving to work in February 2025.

“The accident essentially totaled both vehicles, causing me a concussion and further injury to my preexisting issues, further damaging my spine,” Shahood said. “I went from being able to work with conditions to not working at all. With that I kept filing, providing medical documentation, everything that was asked of me.”

Liberty Mutual provided Shahood with financial relief from the accident. She did not receive income from MSU during her more than nine months of full unpaid medical leave.

MSU Americans with Disabilities Act and leave coordinator Janet Simon and Human Resources coordinator Elizabeth Bradley are both defendants in the case. Shahood says Simon and Bradley mismanaged her leave, threatening to fire her on four prior occasions until her employment was terminated on Dec. 12, 2025.

“I kept filing FMLA, which approved and then around November MSU claimed they didn’t have enough medical information, which makes no sense,” Shahood said. “I gave MSU everything they asked for and they still fired me anyway.”

In a Dec. 2, 2025, email to Shahood shared with the Chronicle, Bradley said: “Your FMLA leave was exhausted on July 29, 2025, and your (other) leave concluded on Nov. 30, 2025. You were expected to return to work on Dec. 4, 2025. Please contact me if you would like to discuss your leave status, return-to-work options, or the process for submitting updated medical documentation.”

Shahood claims she provided MSU with three separate physician statements outlining her condition and indefinite future, updating her status, and that she was reapproved for multiple FMLA absences.

Shahood hired retired private investigator Dan McCaul, 60, whom she also identified as her roommate, for $2,800 to review her case.

Shahood alleges MSU attorneys told her to submit an invoice for McCall’s services to the university’s Risk Management department, which was not paid out. McCall said he first met Shahood while investigating a sexual harassment case against First National Bank, her prior employer, which went to settlement.

“MSU keeps asking Jennifer for all these medical records; Jennifer provides them, and then they keep telling Jennifer they don’t have them,” McCaul said.

The Montana Department of Labor denied Shahood’s unemployment benefits for 13 weeks, until she successfully proved her case, receiving benefits after a hearing.

Shahood also reported MSU to the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. After an intake interview, a follow-up session with Shahood and the EOC is scheduled in July.

Shahood tried filing for long-term disability with Standard Insurance on Nov. 25. Standard Insurance denied her claim.

“Human resources told Standard Insurance I quit, which I did not,” Shahood said. She alleges defendants Bradley and another defendant named in the case provided the Montana Department of Labor and Industry with the same faulty information.

Jennifer Glad, MSU associate legal counsel, is also a named defendant in the case. Glad responded to Shahood confirming her employment was not terminated, and she did not quit, per McCall.

“Jennifer provided that information to unemployment and they backdated her 13 weeks of unemployment,” McCall said. “What I observed is it wasn’t the best practices used by MSU. It’s a pattern of negligence.”

In addition to taking legal action against First National Bank, Shahood sued Butte-Silver Bow County for the accident, which she lost.

Shahood is now searching for online employment. She says her MSU job could have been accomplished with remote accommodation.

“It was all computer work,” Shahood said. “I think it could have been handled online. I would have retired there. I liked my job.”