Employee Discrimination ? Retaliation ? Please help :(

[RN - JENN]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? North Carolina

I'm a registered nurse and was terminated by my employer (hospital) for "not being a good fit". I had never been given any warnings or written up. When leaving the meeting with my supervisor ( I had already been terminated at this point ) I admitted to making a medication error because I was not going to be there any longer and was not going to have the opportunity to rectify the situation. My supervisor said that she would take care of it and that was that.

I contacted HR for a meeting in regards to my termination and was granted a meeting a few weeks later. The VP of HR offered me my position back because my supervisor didn't follow hospital policy when terminating me ( no warnings/write-ups ) I was told that I would receive a written warning for the medication error that I reported upon termination. I agreed and left the hospital with my position back and was told that someone would contact me by the end of the week to get me back on the schedule. Sunday comes around and I receive an email from the VP of HR stating that my supervisor has decided that the medication error needs to be reported to the NC Board of Nursing and that I was being placed on unpaid administrative leave while the board investigates. Is this not retaliation ? If I would have just walked away and not pursued getting my position back, my supervisor would have never reported to the board

Ethically speaking as a nurse, if a nurse believes that an incident needs to be reported to the board, it should happen almost immediately, not weeks later and most definitely not because the employee went to HR about getting their position back. I was terminated on April the 6th, reinstated on April the 19th, placed on unpaid administrative leave April the 25th. The board of nursing opened an investigation on May the 27th ?

I had a meeting with the board two weeks ago and they didn't not find any proof of diverting medication - no disciplinary action imposed. The board of nursing said that this could have been handled in a different manner and it was clear by the amount of information my supervisor sent them that my supervisor does not have my best interest in mind ( my supervisor also made things up to send to the board-thankfully the board could see what was going on ) - they also stated that under no circumstances should I go back to work under the same supervisor as she clearly does not want me to be employed there and that I would have an even bigger target on my back now. The hospital was notified of the outcome two weeks ago ( I know this from the board of nursing ) I still have not been contacted by the hospital as I was told I would be after the investigation was complete.

Do I have any recourse here ? I had a medical emergency two weeks after being placed on leave and was not able to use my STD that I had been paying for. I have had no income since April. I have lost almost five months of income, this seems truly unfair . . .

I actually moved here from another state after being offered this position, chose my residence based on the position at this hospital, paid hundreds of dollars to have my nursing license switched to this state because the same supervisor threatened to take me off of the schedule even though my original license covered me in both states.

My supervisor’s actions were clearly unethical. Because of this I have been on unpaid administrative leave for going on 5 months without pay and also will not get 2 bonuses that I would be eligible for in the next few months.
My nursing license has also been flagged as "under investigation" throughout this entire process, making the possibility of me finding other employment virtually impossible.

I moved to NC for this position, chose my residence based on this position and now I'm left without everything that I was promised when I accepted the position and moved to NC.

Please, if anyone can offer me any advice I would be so soooo grateful. I'm at a stand-still now and I have no idea what to do . . . Do I negotiate back pay and a different position with the hospital ? Do I have any rights here ?

 

[cbg]

This is not illegal retaliation, no. Nor is it any kind of illegal discrimination.

 

[eerelations]

This is not illegal retaliation, no. Nor is it any kind of illegal discrimination.

Agree. Sorry.

 

[Chyvan]

I'm a registered nurse and was terminated by my employer

Do I have any recourse here ?

Do I have any rights here ?

You should have applied for unemployment. Fortunately, you still can, but I hate to think what the 5 month wait might have cost you.

 

[commentator]

Yes, as soon as the first week you were off work without pay, you should've applied for unemployment compensation immediately. I have little doubt that the whole "The VP of HR offered me my position back because my supervisor didn't follow hospital policy when terminating me ( no warnings/write-ups )" was because the employer has a standard termination process which helps to guarantee that the terminated employee does NOT get approved for unemployment insurance.

I wonder how long you had been employed there, since you mention moving to that area specifically for that job. But when the first supervisor terminated you due to "not a good fit" all you pretty much had to do was file a claim for benefits and provided you had monetary eligibility (enough money in the last 18 months that had been paid to you by covered employers to set up a claim) you were very likely to be approved for benefits. If you are trying your best and you still are not considered to be a "good fit" by the employer, that is not considered a valid misconduct reason to terminate you. And when you draw unemployment benefits from an employer, it costs them money so they try to set up a trail of warnings and proofs that they had a valid misconduct reason before they terminate you.

Since you agreed to go back to work for them, and were told you were on unpaid administrative leave that same day, right? You hadn't worked for them again, had you? I can't really tell from here. If so, then the first separation is still sort of valid. If you file a claim, they'll work out exactly when they want to adjudicate from. They will try to determine if you were fired for a valid misconduct reason. You of course will maintain that you were doing your job to the best of your abilities, and were given no feedback that you were not doing a good job, received no warnings or chances to correct anything about your performance.

But unemployment is your only recourse that I can see anywhere in this termination, there's no whistleblower sort of protection for you in law against them firing you for reporting a medication error that you yourself made. It may not be fair, and you may have been a long time without income, but North Carolina is an "at will" state, you can be fired "at will" by your employer. I do not see as you have any grounds to negotiate back pay and a different job in another part of the hospital, either, though you can definitely speak with HR and request such.

North Carolina is one of our southeastern states, not spectacularly claimant friendly in unemployment insurance. You can file a claim for unemployment benefits now, right away, and should definitely do so. But I do not expect them to even remotely consider backdating your claim, though you can always ask. You will very likely be able to start the claim only right now, based on the date you file, and will be eligible, if they decide you are approved, for benefits only for weeks in the future that you are not working.

Most people believe that they have a lot more protections and rights under employment law than they do until something like this happens to them. The truth is, there's no recourse in most cases against being fired for almost any reason except that you may be able to receive some unemployment insurance until you find another job.