Former Marine Corps officer says Huntsville company fired him after disclosing PTSD

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — A former Marine Corps officer filed a lawsuit against Eurofins Diatherix Laboratories LLC, claiming the company fired him because he disclosed a disability.

According to a federal lawsuit filed in the Northern District of Alabama, Peter Carothers filed a lawsuit against his former employer, Eurofins Diatherix Laboratories LLC, claiming they violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The documents say Carothers is a decorated former infantry officer and Marine Captain who commanded a 60-man platoon in over 30 enemy engagements in Afghanistan. He was later awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal for Valor.

In 2024, Carothers says he was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

In the documents, Carothers says he started out in the corporate sector and was appointed general manager of the Eurofins USA national microbiology laboratory in Kentucky. Then, in February 2021, he was named President of Diatherix Laboratories, LLC, in Huntsville until January 2025.

During his employment, the lawsuit says Carothers had an ADA-qualifying disability in the form of PTSD. However, Carothers initially elected not to share the diagnosis.

The documents say that in the late summer or early fall of 2024, Carothers told his direct official, Brian Tees, the Senior Vice President of Eurofins Clinical Diagnostics, of his increasing need to have time carved out for clinical visits to the Veterans Administration medical facility.

Carothers says in the lawsuit that after his direct official learned of the reason behind his “periodic VA appointments,” Tees assigned Brian Grajzar, Vice President of Special Projects, US Clinical Diagnostics, to take over some internal consulting responsibilities.

The documents say that after Grajzar’s assignment, Carothers received feedback from the company’s leadership team saying Grajzar was “inserting himself into operational decisions without having full comprehension of the laboratory’s business model.”

Carothers, in the lawsuit, says he brought his concerns to Tees about Grajzar, but on multiple occasions, the document says Tees assured that Grajzar’s portfolio was not a reflection of performance problems on Carothers’ part.

Come January 17, 2025, the federal documents say Carothers sent a detailed email to Timothy Oostdyk, the Group Executive Vice President of Eurofins Scientific, expressing his concerns that Grajzar was “becoming a source of major morale issues” for the team.

The lawsuit says that in the email, Carothers referred to his recent diagnosis as “severe” PTSD and the negative effect of the conflict between his team and Grajzar was having on his management of the condition. In the email, the documents say Carothers also mentioned that he was in the early stages of therapy and medication.

Then, on January 21, Carothers said Tees “abruptly” informed him of his termination on “vague performance-based grounds.”

Before his termination, Carothers says in the lawsuit that he had never been subject to any verbal or written counseling, an improvement plan or even any indication that his job was at stake.

“Carothers’ firing in the aftermath of disclosing a serious health condition occurred at a time when a Boston-based Eurofins division president was also being terminated soon after expressing a need to take time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act,” the lawsuit says.

Documents say that after Carothers filed his charge of discrimination and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigators asked Eurofins for documentation of any intent to fire Carothers before January 17, “the company declined to provide any material that directly or indirectly established that terminating Carothers was in the works prior to his revelation of a mental health impairment.”

Carothers’ attorney, Artur Davis, with HKM Employment Attorneys LLP, said that when the company learned of Carothers’ diagnosis, it was as if they left him high and dry.

“Almost the minute Diatherix learned of his fight with PTSD, this European-owned company abandoned him. They picked the wrong state in which to dishonor a veteran,” Davis said.

News 19 has reached out to Eurofins to comment on the lawsuit but has yet to receive a response.