Ramsey v. Siskiyou Hosp., Inc. — June 2016 (Summary)

ADEA

Ramsey v. Siskiyou Hosp., Inc.
No. 2:14-cv-01908-KJM-CMK (E.D. Cal. June 9, 2016)

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of California denied a hospital’s motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit brought by a hospital employee who was terminated allegedly on the basis of her age, in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”) and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”).

The plaintiff served as an employee health nurse at the hospital.  Her duties included giving TB skin tests to other hospital employees.  In researching possible causes for an employee’s positive TB skin result, the employee health nurse accessed an employee’s test results online and consulted the lab technician.  The lab technician then reported the employee health nurse for violating HIPAA because she did not order the TB skin test that coincided with the results she accessed online.

The hospital conducted a two-day investigation, determined the employee health nurse violated HIPAA, and terminated her.  She denied violating HIPAA and alleged that she was terminated because of her age.  She was 69 years old and had been employed by the hospital for 14 years.  Prior to the incident, she had received excellent performance evaluations and was never accused of violating HIPAA.  She provided evidence that her termination was motivated by age discrimination by offering witness testimony that the hospital discussed getting rid of older employees because their health insurance was too expensive, citing that older employees were “too old and needed to retire.”  The hospital argued that terminating the employee was solely based on her HIPAA violation.  However, the court concluded that the evidence raised sufficient questions about the hospital’s motive such that the hospital’s motion for summary judgment was denied.