HOUSTON – Dillard’s, a major department store chain, violated federal law by firing a business manager as retaliation for filing a discrimination charge, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed today. According to the EEOC’s suit, Shontel Mayfield worked at the Dillard’s store in the Central Mall in Port Arthur, Texas. In September 2008, Mayfield complied with a Jefferson County mandatory evacuation order and evacuated the area in advance of Hurricane Ike. Mayfield returned to Jefferson County consistent with the directives of the county’s “disaster declarations.” After Mayfield returned to work on Sept. 24, she was called into the store manager’s office the next day and advised by the store manager and the assistant store manager / operations manager that she was being fired for the stated reason of “excessive absenteeism.” On her termination paperwork, Mayfield was accused of having “failed to maintain verbal communication concerning ...