Oberti Sullivan:Shell Terminated Executive After Stage 4 Cancer Diagnosis

Led Transactions Resulting in Over $160 Million in Revenue Before Termination   

HOUSTON, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- An amended petition was filed this week in the lawsuit against Shell alleging disability, pregnancy and sex discrimination. 

Julia Shur, 47, an employee of Shell was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer in June 2019. A year later, she was terminated for alleged performance reasons despite having led two transactions which resulted in more than $160 million in revenue for Shell that year.

According to the filing, Shur led a $120 million deal code-named Project Heron from her hospital bed while recovering from surgeries at Memorial Sloan Kettering. The petition quotes emails from twelve of her coworkers who sent Shur emails praising her job performance, leadership, mentoring style, and soft skills. Shell highlighted the Project Heron deal as a key divestment milestone in its Fourth Quarter results to institutional investors in January 2020. In May 2020, she received a Special Recognition Award payment for her outstanding work. Shur was medically cleared and returned to work on June 15, 2020, only to be terminated on June 25, 2020, and told it was for "performance reasons."  

"I worked from my hospital bed to get Project Heron signed and closed because I wanted part of my legacy to be one of professionalism and success, if I died," Shur said, "To be terminated ten days after my return to work despite successfully completing Project Heron is mind-boggling to me."

Shur's lawyer, Mark Oberti, Oberti Sullivan LLP, stated that "evidence shows that an insecure male manager of Shur's who was less accomplished, less connected, and less knowledgeable in her field had been waiting to activate a plan to illegally fire Shur. When she was stricken with cancer, he seized on that opportunity to launch his scheme."

Oberti said: "Shell's Code of Conduct states that its core values are "honesty," "respect" and "integrity." We don't believe that firing a cancer victim who earned Shell $160+ million is consistent with these values. We believe it is consistent with illegal discrimination and think a jury will too. 

A judge granted Shur's request of preferential trial setting to begin on October 2, 2022. 

SOURCE Oberti Sullivan