‘I was fired from my job when they found out I had cancer’

JACQUELYNE Froeber had just moved interstate for her dream job when her world came crashing down.

Jacquelyne Froeber lost her job after being diagnosed with cancer.

JACQUELYNE Froeber moved across the United States last year for a “dream opportunity” — senior editor for two American Airlines in-flight magazines, shifting from Iowa to Texas.

But her world came crashing down in May when she was diagnosed with breast cancer at just 33-years-old, The New York Post reports.

“I was recruited from Des Moines to be the editor-in-chief of Celebrated Living and also the senior editor for American Way,” Ms Froeber said.

“The opportunity to come to Dallas and be a part of this brand and its voice was so exciting for anyone like me in a creative job. It was a dream job, to be able to start something from the bottom up and give it a voice and make it as great as you possibly can. It was a dream opportunity.”

Ms Froeber, now 34, claims discrimination dashed that dream, according to a complaint she filed last month with the Texas Workforce Commission’s Civil Rights Division, alleging London-based Ink Publishing Corp told her she had to reapply for her position at a new office in Miami just six days after the company learned she had cancer.

“I was already qualified for my position and had received multiple industry awards,” the complaint reads. “I informed Ink that I was willing to move to Miami at my expense.”

Ms Froeber then interviewed in August, showing “substantial hair loss” due to ongoing chemotherapy, according to the complaint.

OFFER REVOKED

Ink officials told her she did well during the interview and had a strong passion for the brand, saying her position would continue through December. The company would also give Ms Froeber “objective criteria” to evaluate her again at the end of the year.

But after “internal discussions,” according to the complaint, company officials told Ms Froeber later in August that her employment would end on September 30. She was offered a freelance contract through the end of the year, but not ongoing employment.

The new freelance contract also required Ms Froeber to grant permission to the company to use her photograph taken prior to chemotherapy, according to the discrimination complaint.

“That didn’t seem right,” Ms Froeber told The Post on Tuesday. “I never signed anything when I had my photo taken before, so why did I have to do it then? And why did they need to secure my original photo? I don’t have an answer for that.”

Ms Froeber also filed a lawsuit on September 29 in Dallas County District Court, alleging breach of contract.

The suit contends that both American Airlines and Ink told Froeber the publisher’s Dallas office would be open for at least five years after an agreement the companies signed in 2014.

But less than two years later, Ink officials announced in June that the Dallas office was closing.

“Ms Froeber lived in Iowa and relied upon the representation and the agreement in accepting employment with Ink and moving to Dallas,” the suit reads.

Ms Froeber, whose lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages, said the announcement left her and about 10 other colleagues stunned — and essentially back at square one in Dallas.

“I was completely shocked that they closed the office,” she said. “I was recruited to come down here for at least five years. And I really loved my job.”

Ms Froeber said that promise of a five-year contract was crucial in her decision to move to Texas.

“Knowing that there was a five-year contract for these magazines made the decision to move a no-brainer,” she said. “Five years is a nice chunk of time to think about what you can do and all the creative possibilities.”

‘I HAD NO CHOICE’

Ms Froeber said she missed her jobs and just wanted a chance to get back to where she was professionally prior to her diagnosis.

“I felt like I really didn’t have a choice in the matter,” she said. “And I was really good at my job; I excelled at my job. And I am perfectly capable of working and still doing the same level of great work.”

Daniel Bee, a spokesman for Ink, said he could not comment in detail, citing ongoing litigation.

“Our primary concern is for our former colleague and we’re very disappointed that she has chosen to take legal action at this most difficult of times,” Mr Bee said in a statement to The Post. “In our opinion, this claim is baseless and it is with deep regret we are being forced into this matter to ensure the truth comes out.”

Matt Miller, a spokesman for American Airlines, also characterised Froeber’s lawsuit as “baseless” before declining further comment.

Ms Froeber wrote in her final editorial for Celebrated Living that she knew right away something was wrong when she felt a lump in her breast before taking her morning walk with her two dogs.

“I knew that my next breath, blink and heartbeat would never be the same,” Ms Froeber wrote. “I wanted desperately to rewind and go back. Get blissfully ignorant about the war zone in my body and focus appropriate concerns on grabbing a coffee and taking my pugs for a walk. But I knew in my heart, and I knew from friends with breast cancer, that you don’t hide from something that scares you. Fear doesn’t have a face.”

Ms Froeber said her cancer had not spread throughout her body and that she was responding well to weekly chemotherapy treatments.

“Everything is shrinking and I’m doing really well, which is so awesome,” she told The Post. “It’s working and I’m so thankful.”

This article first appeared at the New York Post and is reproduced with permission.

Originally published as ‘I was fired from my job when they found out I had cancer’