Whistleblower: Nurse Was Not Constructively Discharged.
Legal Eagle Eye Newsletter for the Nursing Profession
A whistleblower does not actually have to be fired to have the right to sue.
Constructive discharge can qualify a victim as a whistleblower.
An employee suffers constructive discharge when the employee is not actually terminated but is forced to quit under circumstances that amount to illegal discrimination, harassment, reprisal or retaliation.
SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT OF MAINE July 12, 2016The director of nursing in a rehab and long term care facility voiced complaints about certain patients being admitted and the admissions process in general.
About the same time corporate higher-ups brought in a management consultant to revamp the director’s and others’ responsibilities.
The director was given a thirty-day plan of improvement to get on board with the new changes. On day two she quit.
The Supreme Judicial Court of Maine dismissed the former director’s whistleblower case against her former employer.
The Court agreed with her that a whistleblower who is forced to quit, that is, a victim of constructive discharge, has the same rights as a whistleblower who has been fired for his or her complaints.
However, the law sets the bar very high for the former employee to prove working conditions were so intolerable that any reasonable person would be forced to quit. An employee faced with a plan of correction is required not to assume the worst before quitting without attempting to adapt to his or her new circumstances.
Sullivan v. Hospital, __ A. 3d __, 2016 WL 3677809 (Me., July 12, 2016).More references from nursinglaw.com
http://www.nursinglaw.com/whistleblower-nurse-court-case.htm
http://www.nursinglaw.com/whistleblower.htm
http://www.nursinglaw.com/whistleblower-collective-bargaining.htm
http://www.nursinglaw.com/whistleblower-nurse.htm