Eric Thomas, a former employee of Pan Am Railways has sued the company in federal court, claiming discrimination. Thomas claims that he was fired for requesting a three-week medical leave extension to recover from cancer treatment. Pan Am said that having a three-week vacancy would be a hardship, despite the assistant manager position remaining open for another six weeks following Thomas' termination.

Even when Thomas was given early clearance to return to work by his doctor, the company refused to reinstate him to his original position as assistant manager. As a member of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace workers, Thomas was able to get another position as a machinist at the rail yard, but unable to get the his original position even though he requested numerous times to be placed in the vacant position. An investigator from the Maine Human Rights Commission in June found that there were reasonable grounds to believe the company subjected Thomas to unlawful disability discrimination.

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