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A former executive at roofing manufacturer GAF Materials is accusing her former lawyers of mishandling a potential age and gender discrimination case by failing to meet a key procedural deadline, according to a lawsuit filed in Massachusetts state court.

Elizabeth McSorley said that after she was "cruelly cast aside" at age 59 by GAF in March 2023, she hired lawyers Philip Gordon and Benjamin Flam to review a severance agreement.

Under the terms of the offer, GAF would have continued to pay her weekly salary of $4,455 through the rest of that year for a total of $173,775, according to the complaint, filed Tuesday in Suffolk County Superior Court.

Instead, McSorley said Gordon and Flam of Gordon Law Group LLP, which specializes in employment law cases, advised her not to accept GAF's severance package and told her she had grounds for an age and gender bias case.

The lawyers then sent a demand letter to GAF, noting McSorley was more experienced than her younger, male counterparts who held the same positions, the suit said. GAF disputed the allegation but offered in May 2023 to bump up its severance offer to add approximately $36,000 from a bonus plan, according to the suit.

McSorley said she repeatedly attempted to discuss the offer with her lawyers but got no response until October 2023, when they again advised her not to accept the offer and told her they would file a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD), a prerequisite administrative remedy, before pursuing a bias complaint in court.

But the firm failed to follow through, according to the suit, and when a deadline for filing the MCAD complaint passed in January 2024, it prevented her from making any employment discrimination claim later in court.

McSorley said she subsequently attempted to handle the matter on her own and told GAF she would accept the severance agreement, but GAF told her that the offer was no longer on the table.

"GAF had been handed an irredeemably strong position for denial as a result of defendants' failure to perfect [McSorley's] MCAD claim," the complaint said.

McSorley also said she was not given her file after terminating Flam and Gordon, and at no point was told that they had any concerns about the potential merits of the case.

Her complaint is seeking compensation for the lost severance offer, as well as for lost future income she might have been able to obtain based on a discrimination claim and for emotional harm.

Messages seeking comment from counsel for McSorley and from Gordon and Flam did not immediately receive responses on Wednesday.