A 56-year-old North Platte woman is suing the Union Pacific Railroad for discrimination after she was laid off because she was going through menopause.

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Porfiria B. Alonzo is a machinist at the railroad and was first hired on in 1979. She worked there continuously through 1984 but was laid off in 1984, according to the lawsuit filed in Lincoln County District Court.

The lawsuit said her position became available again in 1988 and she went back to work.

But in April 2007, the lawsuit said, Alonzo received a letter from Director David Thalken stating that she was to be pulled from service because the railroad “perceived her to be having health problems related to menopause.”

Thalken asked Alonzo to call the employee assistance hotline and undergo an evaluation to determine her fitness for duty.

A source close to the case said supervisors witnessed Alonzo crying and upset on a few occasions. The problem was that she had an issue with another employee, according to the source.

The lawsuit said that on April 24, at UP’s insistence, Alonzo underwent a mental health evaluation and the evaluation found no specific issues where she would benefit from mental health counseling session.

Alonso said, in the lawsuit, that UP refused to allow her to return to work and asked her to submit to further psychological evaluations.

The lawsuit said Alonso underwent a second psychological evaluation on May 23, 2007, that also found no issues. The second evaluation found that Alonso “appeared cognitively fit to return to work.”

Despite the two evaluations, according to the lawsuit, UP still did not allow Alonso to return to work and on June 21, 2007, Alonso filed a complaint with the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission. She believes she was discriminated against because of her age and gender.

The lawsuit said others Alonso worked with, both male and female, were not pulled from service and asked to submit to mental health or psychological testing. UP discriminated against Alonzo because of a “perception” that she had a disability, the lawsuit said, a violation of the American with Disabilities Act.

The lawsuit says Alonso suffered lost wages, undue hardship, great emotional distress, humiliation, embarrassment, inconvenience and personal and professional damage to her reputation. She is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.

The lawsuit was filed by former North Platte attorney Joy Shiffermiller, now of Lincoln.

Shiffermiller said Alonzo has since returned to work at UP. She said the lawsuit would likely be moved from Lincoln County District Court to U.S. District Court in Omaha.

No trial date has yet been set.