The case lasted until a year ago, when a judge dismissed Jennifer's claims. She no longer works for Terracon. The account of what occurred touches on issues that researchers have identified as traits of Gen Z-generation employees, how unhappy many are with their jobs and mental health issues involved.

Drawing on a number of surveys of happiness and satisfaction, researchers David Blanchflower and Alex Bryson noted the "rise in young worker despair" in a working paper published this past summer by the National Bureau of Economic Research, described as a private non-profit, non-partisan group of academic economists. They cited prior research showing that while previous generations had experienced mid-life crises, that had largely disappeared and been replaced by  a "decline in the mental health of the young."

The decline, Blanchflower and Bryson wrote, "is particularly evident for young people ages 12-25, and especially young women." Stress, anxiety and depression were the prominent experience reported by many young women as it relates to their employment.

Other studies had pointed to similar trends among engineers of all types. Equal Engineers, a U.K.-based association devoted to inclusion and diversity, published a study in 2019 based on a survey of 875 engineers. Over one-third of engineers described their mental health as fair or poor, and over one-fifth have had to take time off work because of it, the survey found. 

Before dismissing Jennifer's lawsuit claims against Terracon last year, Judge William J. Martinez summarized what had happened.

A Colorado State University graduate with a B.S. in engineering, Jennifer had taken an entry-level job at Olathe, Kan.-based Terracon as a field environmental engineer. The company ranks st No. 19 on the ENR Top 500 Design Firms list, reporting about $1.3 billion in 2024 revenue

Some of Jennifer's duties consisted of taking soil and water samples in the field and preparing reports on them.

The company expected employees to fill out separate time-sheets for two types of work hours—billable or not billable to clients, and had an ethics policy requiring honesty in the entries. According to Martinez, Terracon maintained "charge-ability goals" for employees which, in Jennifer's case, were set at 80%. Martinez wrote that each week her supervisor would discuss any non-chargeable time or failure to meet the company goals.

In September 2021, Martinez wrote, Jennifer and her supervisor discussed why one of her field sample reports was taking a long time but had not been finished. She admitted she had not gotten as much done as she had hoped on the work, and during the meeting she became distraught and cried. Her supervisor asked her if non-work issues were affecting her and Jennifer talked about losing focus and feeling tired.

At this point, Jennifer's supervisor alleges, she had committed timesheet fraud, an offense that justified termination. 

But Jennifer continued working for Terracon on a reduced schedule, Martinez wrote. She also started working with the state's Division of Vocational Rehabilitation and saw a medical provider who diagnosed her as having "ADHD/Depression/PTSD," making it difficult to concentrate on work, and also having "Bipolar disorder, unspecified." The day after her diagnoses, she reported her situation to the company's human resources department, noting she was working with a new therapist, Martinez wrote.

But as that was taking place, Jennifer's supervisor claimed that she had recorded as general administrative time—meaning time working for the benefit of the company—10.5 hours spent in rehabilitation or in counseling.

The Challenged Timesheet

In an email exchange, Jennifer's supervisor challenged her for an explanation of the 10.5 hours. According to Judge Martinez, Jennifer replied via email that she had informed Terracon that she was working with the vocational rehabilitation division. Its efforts involved trying "to come up with ways to manage the ways my disability can make my work performance and consistency hard to keep up with," especially given that she was her office's only field employee at the moment.

The dispute between Jennifer and her supervisor then took a turn for the worse. The supervisor considered the hours Jennifer recorded as general administrative time to be a dishonest entry in violation of company ethics policy. Jennifer maintained that the time working with the vocational division was appropriately categorized as general administrative time.

In any case, Terracon dismissed her and Jennifer sued the company for dismissing her based on a disability, in violation of federal law. 

Last November, Martinez ruled that Jennifer had failed to provide sufficient evidence of her claim and granted summary judgement in favor of Terracon, effectively ending the lawsuit.

According to public records, Jennifer now works for a government public works agency.