April 2018 

  An emergency department registered nurse was having trouble keeping up with her duties.  Physicians and other nurses complained she often just sat staring at the computer and would not help with patient care and patient discharges.  She took leave for a major depressive episode, but still had the same problems when she returned to work.  She was transferred to a case manager position on another unit.  That did not work out either and she was terminated.

  The US District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi dismissed the disability discrimination lawsuit she filed against the hospital.  The Court ruled the nurse could not point to a very positive employment review in September 2014 to establish that she was qualified for her position despite her disability when the events that led to her termination began in June 2015.

  The Court also ruled that the hospital was not required to offer her a non-patient-care office position in utilization review, as the hospital only used LPNs for that.  An employer is not required to alter its established personnel policies to accommodate a disabled employee. Pace v. Health, 2018 WL 1189918 (S.D. Miss., March 7, 2018).

More from nursinglaw.com

http://www.nursinglaw.com/depression2.htm

http://www.nursinglaw.com/depression3.htm

http://www.nursinglaw.com/anxiety-depression-nurse-disability.htm

http://www.nursinglaw.com/disability-discrimination-PTSD.htm