AI expert alleges Mayo Clinic fired her over compliance complaints

When she pressed one senior leader, the complaint says, he told her that fixing the issue would cost “political capital” he was not willing to spend. On another occasion, according to the filing, she was told a colleague had “Commander’s intent” and should not be asked to justify bypassing full review. 

The retaliation, she claims, started within days of her February 2025 report to Mayo’s legal department. She says she was dropped from leadership meetings and replaced by a subordinate. The complaint says an engineering director warned her that senior leaders had issued “marching orders….to get rid of [her] ASAP.” 

What came next reads like a checklist for any HR team. In March 2025, the filing says, she got a $7,000 raise, to about $166,000, and a note thanking her for being a “valuable partner.” Weeks later, she says, she was told to resign or face consequences in her personnel file, then placed on a corrective plan that recycled year-old events and named no specific failing. The reason given, she says, was that she was a poor “cultural fit.” 

She took the plan to HR, the complaint says, arguing it was reprisal for her reports. HR found the corrective action did not violate company policy; the filing alleges the review was cursory and involved no meaningful investigation. 

Her health declined, she says, and she was diagnosed with anxiety and a depressive episode. The complaint alleges Mayo first denied her leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, shared her confidential medical details with managers who had no role in the process, and approved the leave only after she hired a lawyer. While she was out, the filing says, her job was eliminated in a layoff that cut no one else. She applied for 15 internal roles, landed one interview, and was terminated on December 1, 2025.