I was fired from a nursing home after voicing concerns about the pre-signing of prescriptions. Aren’t there protections for employees who raise questions about illegal clinical practices?
Friday January 15, 2010
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I have worked in a nursing home for 14 years and have been upset about many of the practices there, including the pre-signing of prescriptions. I voiced my concerns to many in administration, but nothing was done. I decided I would resign, and the next day the administrator called me into his office and — in front of several others in nursing administration — yelled at me and told me I was fired. When I questioned the firing the next day through the grievance procedure, my administrator told me I wasn't fired and that I had resigned. I have had a difficult time getting another job and think it may be because of this situation, because I have a stellar work history prior to this firing.
Aren't there protections for employees who raise questions about illegal clinical practices that harm patients? If there was a firing, was it legal? As I understood it, when an employee does raise concerns that are a matter of public policy, the employee cannot be fired because the issues were raised.
Jake
You should be commended for raising the concerns you did at the nursing home. Unfortunately, as your experience underscores, raising issues within the facility often results in little or no change in the procedures and can place the complaining employee at risk for firing. Certainly, raising the issues internally is the best place to start, but when complaints go unheeded, the next step is to report conditions to outside authorities who can investigate and enforce penalties for unacceptable conduct. This is often called “whistle-blowing." Doing so is best achieved with advice from a nurse attorney or attorney who can "coach" you through that process.
If you had shared your concerns with an outside agency or agencies and were then fired by the employer, the firing would most probably be protected as an exception to the at-will employment doctrine.
Insofar as your exit from the facility is concerned, it is unclear whether your resignation letter was tendered before you were fired. That is one issue that the attorney with whom you consult on the termination can evaluate. The attorney will be evaluating your termination with an eye toward the "public policy" exception, or other exceptions (e.g., malice or bad faith of the employer), to the at-will employment doctrine.
Under the at-will employment doctrine, an employee can be terminated for any reason, or for no reason at all, as long as the firing is not discriminatory or violates other protections in place for the employee. One such protection is when an employee is terminated because he or she questions practices in the workplace that are harmful to the public at large. Each state defines this general principle in different ways, either in a statute and/or by case law decisions. In addition, other requisites exist for the doctrine to apply (e.g., refusing to do the illegal or harmful activity). Your attorney can advise you about raising your issues in your particular situation and whether your voiced concerns are protected under this exception to the at-will employment doctrine.
Your attorney also will discuss with you a concept in the law called "constructive discharge." This concept applies when an employee turns in his or her resignation because of intolerable working conditions, again defined in the state through statutory language and/or case law. The employer then uses the resignation to say the employee left employment by choice and not because of firing by the employer. Your attorney also will need to evaluate this concept in terms of its applicability to your situation and the employer's position that you resigned.
Cordially,
Nancy
Nancy J. Brent, RN, MS, JD, is an attorney in private practice in Wilmette, Ill. This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended as legal or any other advice. The reader is encouraged to seek the advice of an attorney or other professional when an opinion is needed.
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