An Alberta mother is suing Starbucks for wrongful termination after they fired her thinking her cancer symptoms were COVID-19 symptoms.

In April 2021, Lisa Pedersen was fired from Starbucks when they slapped her with three writeups. She worked for the coffee company for four years, working her way up to supervisor, telling Global News that she planned to work there until retirement and that it was her "dream job."

When Lisa began showing signs of illness, her workplace assumed it was Covid and pushed her out of there as fast as possible.

You have to have three writeups to be fired from Starbucks, so they did all three at once. One for coming to work sick, one for not following COVID protocols and one for handling food while sick.

Lisa says she never had Covid. She even took a test and sent the negative results to her boss in hopes of keeping her job.

Unfortunately, she was only officially diagnosed with a rare type of blood cancer a month after being let go.

I lost all of my benefits. They gave me one week to use my health benefits.

With just one week of health benefits left, Lisa quickly booked optometry appointments for herself and her three kids, one of whom has special needs and requires round-the-clock care.

Luckily, the optometrist noticed a spot on her eye and sent her to get bloodwork.

The tests came back positive for cancer.

She now knows she has myeloproliferative neoplasm and is undergoing chemotherapy treatments for it.

Lisa hired lawyer Aaron Levitin, who has filed a lawsuit against Starbucks Coffee Canada Inc.

She was unfairly reprimanded due to symptoms believed to be COVID-19-related, when in fact it was actually blood cancer.

The cancer symptoms she was experiencing were migraine headaches and severe stomach upset – which for some reason, were mistaken for Covid symptoms.

She did send an email notifying them her symptoms were related to cancer and she never received a response to that communication.

Not only is Lisa dealing with a terrible illness, but without her work benefits, the fate of her and her children is shaken.

I had a life insurance policy through Starbucks. I've lost that now and I don't qualify for a new policy because you have to be cancer-free for five years, and my type of cancer, there is no cure.

Lisa's future is uncertain, the lawsuit could take years to make its way through the court system, and Starbucks has not yet responded to her claims.

Although her claims have not yet been proven in court, this all sounds like a very "Starbucks" thing to do. I mean, they are still wearing masks around here...

Starbucks needs to make the right decision and stand by its position that it is a conscientious employer that takes care of its partners. It's a tragic loss for her family. She can no longer qualify for life insurance.

It would be amazing if Lisa could spend this time with her family and focus on recovering and not be involved in ongoing litigation with a behemoth. Unfortunately, that's the position that Lisa finds herself in.