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Compensation possible for New York retaliation victims

On Behalf of | Jan 9, 2018 | Uncategorized

Deadlines, difficult assignments and an empty coffee pot in the break room might all be sources of stress at work, but some workers must deal with far worse. An out-of-state woman suffered troubling and ongoing retaliation at her place of work, for which she later received compensation. Retaliation claims such as hers are often effective for New York workers as well.

In 2009, the army veteran was hired on at a health care facility as a nurse, at which time she was working underneath both an administrator and supervisor. Sometime later, the nurse complained about her supervisor’s job performance to higher-ups working at the facility. She also complained that there were routine issues with administering medications on time.

In March 2010, the nurse returned to her vehicle after finishing a shift and discovered that it had been vandalized. She reported it to her supervisor and then headed toward an area police station. While still on her way to the station, she was sent a text message containing a racial slur, in which the sender claimed responsibility for the vandalization. Although the text came from her supervisor’s phone, an aide had apparently sent the message and, after admitting to the vandalization, was fired.

The nurse was later fired after that she was accused of leaving her post for about 45 minutes. However, the nurse says that she was only gone for about five or so minutes, and witnesses agreed that she had not been gone for longer than 10 minutes. She had taken a break to move her vehicle after spotting her supervisor near it.

After filing her claim, an administrator launched an investigation into the nurse’s firing and did not find any justifiable information that supported the termination. A judge then found in her favor regarding her retaliation claim, awarding her $307,000 for lost wages and benefits as well as mental anguish. Compensation for these types of damages are typical of retaliation claims successfully pursued by New York victims.

Source: delcotimes.com, “Nursing assistant wins $307G in retaliation suit”, Alex Rose, Dec. 27, 2017