FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Employee Files Lawsuit against Meadow View Nursing Center for Wage Discrimination and Elder Abuse
Christine started at Meadow View Nursing Center as a licensed practical nurse in February 2017. Orientation and training lasted less than a week. The center was clearly short staffed, but they cared for 30-60 residents at a time. Within a month of starting, Christine shared that she and the rest of the staff worked 16-hour days, sometimes 7 days a week. Christine talked to the director about the long hours, but nothing was changed.
In August, her employer hung a sign, encouraging current employees to refer possible hires with the added incentive of bonuses. Christine helped find new employees, but she never received the bonuses. She believes she is owed $10,000.
Christine continued to seek appropriate training for her position at the center, but she never received it. In fact, she remembers being told to “keep doing what [she was] doing.” So she did.
Sometime in August or September, a resident sexually abused another resident. Both were older than 80, and according to Christine, the staff did nothing to stop the sexual abuse. She reported the situation to the director who allegedly replied that both residents were “demented.” To Christine, this made it sound that the director didn’t believe the residents were aware of their actions. Eventually, the abusive resident was moved to another floor.
Then, in October, another nurse verbally abused an 80-year-old resident. Christine tracked down witness observations and made a report of the situation to the director. When nothing was done to prevent the elder abuse, she took the report to Compliance. Soon after the report of elder abuse, Christine was called into a meeting with the director and an administrator. She was told about an audit on her performance that revealed incorrect documentation of medication for patients. Her suspension lasted for three days.
And three days later, Christine was terminated. When she went to apply for unemployment compensation, she discovered that other nurses had similar medication paperwork errors as she did. Christine believes these errors were due to lack of training and the short staffing. As a client of KM&A, she seeks her employment rights. KM&A represents employees like Christine who have dealt with illegal and negative employment action.
Full text of this complaint, as filed with the Court of Common Pleas of Somerset County, Pennsylvania, is available at docket no: 2018-50465
Kraemer, Manes & Associates LLC is an employment law firm with principal offices in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, serving all counties in Pennsylvania, focusing on employment law, business law, litigation, and civil issues. KM&A clients include employees, small businesses, parties in litigation, and people with a variety of legal issues.
For more information about this case, contact Attorney James Lopez at (412) 626-5556 or at jl@lawkm.com.
NOTICE: All information contained in this statement comes from the Complaint which has been filed as a public record with the court. As dedicated civil rights attorneys, we strongly believe in the public value of telling our clients’ stories: violators can be held accountable, and other silent victims can feel empowered to stand up for their legal rights. Although we make every attempt to verify our clients’ claims, note that the defendant is expected to oppose our client’s position, and the court has not ruled one way or the other as of the date of this statement.
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