Peter Carothers Lawsuit Against Eurofins Diatherix: PTSD Firing

The Eurofins Diatherix Peter Carothers lawsuit is a federal disability discrimination case filed in July 2025 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. Carothers, a former Marine Corps infantry officer who ran the Huntsville diagnostics company as its president for about four years, alleges Eurofins Diatherix Laboratories fired him four days after he told a senior executive he had been diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder. The single claim is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.¹

Four Days From Disclosure to Firing

Carothers was hired as president of Diatherix in February 2021. According to the complaint, he received bonus incentives, stock options, and praise from senior leadership throughout his tenure, and was never placed on a performance improvement plan or given any written or verbal counseling about his job.²

He was diagnosed with severe PTSD in the summer of 2024.¹ In late summer or early fall, he told his direct supervisor, Eurofins Clinical Diagnostics Senior Vice President Brian Tees, that he would need periodic time off for clinical visits at a Huntsville Veterans Administration facility. Soon after, Tees assigned Brian Grajzar, Vice President of Special Projects for U.S. Clinical Diagnostics, to take over some of Carothers’ internal consulting duties. The complaint alleges Grajzar began inserting himself into operational decisions without a full understanding of the business, and that Tees assured Carothers this expanded role did not reflect any performance concerns.³

On January 17, 2025, Carothers sent a detailed email to Timothy Oostdyk, a Group Executive Vice President of Eurofins Scientific who oversees clinical diagnostics in North America. In that email, he described Grajzar as a source of major morale issues and, for the first time in writing to senior corporate leadership, disclosed his severe PTSD diagnosis and explained that the conflict was affecting his ability to manage the condition.³

Four days later, on January 21, 2025, Tees fired him. The lawsuit describes the stated reason as vague performance-based grounds, and says no documentation of performance problems existed before the January 17 email.³

Carothers filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in February 2025. According to the complaint, EEOC investigators asked Eurofins to produce any material showing the termination had been planned before the disclosure, and the company declined to provide any such documentation. The complaint also alleges a broader pattern, claiming a Eurofins division president based in Boston was terminated around the same time after expressing a need for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act.³

What Carothers Is Seeking

The lawsuit was filed during the week of July 14, 2025, and pleads a single cause of action under the ADA. Carothers has requested a jury trial and is asking for back pay, front pay, lost benefits, compensatory damages under the ADA, attorneys’ fees, litigation costs, and pre-judgment and post-judgment interest.²

He is represented by Artur Davis of HKM Employment Attorneys. In a statement, Davis said: “Peter Carothers served this nation with valor and helped turn a struggling company around with that same mix of savvy and fortitude. Almost the minute Diatherix learned of his fight with PTSD, this European-owned company abandoned him.”²

Before joining Diatherix, Carothers served as a Marine captain and infantry officer from 2008 to 2012, commanding a 60-man platoon and taking part in more than 30 enemy engagements across two deployments to Afghanistan. He received the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal for valor in combat.³

Eurofins’ Response

As of late July 2025, Eurofins had not publicly responded to the substance of the allegations. When contacted by WHNT News 19, the company did not provide a comment, and no attorney for Eurofins Diatherix had been publicly identified in connection with the case.³

Why the Timing Matters Under the ADA

The ADA prohibits employers from firing or otherwise discriminating against employees on the basis of a mental health condition, including PTSD. Under EEOC guidance, a condition qualifies for protection when it substantially limits a major life activity such as concentrating, sleeping, or interacting with others, and it need not be permanent or severe to meet that threshold. Employers must provide reasonable accommodations for known disabilities, which can include schedule modifications for therapy, adjusted work conditions, or time off for treatment, unless doing so would impose significant difficulty or expense.⁴

The proximity between the January 17 disclosure and the January 21 firing sits at the center of Carothers’ case. The complaint pairs that four-day gap with the absence of any prior discipline in four years and the company’s reported inability to produce documentation predating the disclosure. Whether those facts, if proven, establish that PTSD was the reason for the termination will be the question at trial.

1
AL.com. Alabama Combat Veteran Says Company Fired Him After Disclosing PTSD
2
256 Today. Decorated Vet Says Eurofins Diatherix Fired Him as President After PTSD Diagnosis
3
WHNT News 19. Former Marine Corps Officer Says Huntsville Company Fired Him After Disclosing PTSD
4
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Depression, PTSD, and Other Mental Health Conditions in the Workplace: Your Legal Rights