Fired for telling a co-worker NOT to trow bloody waste into a trash can in front of a

[rgriffin83]

Pensacola, FL
I work at a lab testing facility that does testing for all sorts of diseases, S.T.D's, and other issues. One day I witnessed a less experienced co-worker throwing bloody compresses into the normal trash bin. I told the co-worker, quietly, so no one else could hear that you cannot throw bloody material in a normal trash can. She tried to tell me that the biohazard can was only for "sharp needles". A couple weeks later, I was contacted by my boss to let me know that I was being "let go" due to not being professional enough. She explained that the reason was that I told my coworker not to throw bloody material in a normal trash bin in front of customers. My question is, in florida, do I have any leverage to try to sue for wrongful termination in this incident?

 

[Proserpina]

Pensacola, FL
I work at a lab testing facility that does testing for all sorts of diseases, S.T.D's, and other issues. One day I witnessed a less experienced co-worker throwing bloody compresses into the normal trash bin. I told the co-worker, quietly, so no one else could hear that you cannot throw bloody material in a normal trash can. She tried to tell me that the biohazard can was only for "sharp needles". A couple weeks later, I was contacted by my boss to let me know that I was being "let go" due to not being professional enough. She explained that the reason was that I told my coworker not to throw bloody material in a normal trash bin in front of customers. My question is, in florida, do I have any leverage to try to sue for wrongful termination in this incident?

This was not a wrongful termination.

 

[cbg]

My question is, in florida, do I have any leverage to try to sue for wrongful termination in this incident?

No; nor would you in any other state with the possible exception of Montana. This is not even close to meeting the legal definition of a wrongful termination.

 

[rgriffin83]

I forgot to mention that the patient who's blood was thrown into a normal trash can had hepatitis c?

 

[rgriffin83]

so what does it fall under? I mean, throwing hep c infected blood into a normal dumpster that people pick through all the time and goes to a normal dump site?

 

[cbg]

Google, At-Will Employment

In an at-will employment state, which is every state except the aforementioned Montana and even includes Montana in some circumstances, you can be fired for any reason which does not specifically violate the law. Since there is no law saying you cannot be fired for what your employer terms as unprofessionalism, you can be. Even if you do not agree that you were unprofessional. The employer has the only vote that counts, and if the employer thinks that your correcting a co-worker in front of customers was unprofessional, the employer can fire you for it.

 

[not2cleverRed]

so what does it fall under? I mean, throwing hep c infected blood into a normal dumpster that people pick through all the time and goes to a normal dump site?

Please reread cbg's signature. "A wrongful termination does not mean that you were fired for something you didn't do; it means that you were fired for a reason prohibited by law." You were NOT fired for a reason prohibited by law.

Your question was NOT about whether there was a legal problem with the way infectious waste was being disposed of; your query is in the hiring, firing, wrongful termination section.

While some of us might concur that you and OSHA are on the same page here, *that* is not the issue here. I'm sure there is some regulatory agency that would be interested in your tale of your former employer's disposal practices, but since you did not report it anywhere it's not as though you can claim to have been a whistleblower.

 

[Proserpina]

I forgot to mention that the patient who's blood was thrown into a normal trash can had hepatitis c?

I'm astonished to hear that!

I mean it's not as if people "forget" to mention such critical things in their first message....

.... until they get an answer they don't like.

 

[commentator]

File for unemployment. That's as good as it gets in the state of Florida, which is very "employer friendly." The unemployment situation will take you through the whys and wherefores of whether the employer had a right to fire you, and whether this would be considered a disqualifying reason for unemployment. Hint: If they had not already given you several warnings about unprofessional behavior, you'll probably be approved for benefits.

There's nothing illegal about this. I can see that if the employer heard you rebuked a co-worker about throwing this material into a regular trash can in front of customers, they would imagine that it might cause a lot of investigation, a lot of questions, in other words, trouble for the employer! Can't you just see the "channel 2 investigative reporter" all over this one. "What's REALLY happening to bio-hazardous waste in your local laboratory?"

Particularly if you said something like, "Oh my gosh, Mildred! Don't throw that bloody mess in the regular trash! Are you crazy? That woman had Hep C!" but no matter what you said, if you said it clearly enough that somebody heard, or in a place the employer believe somebody might hear, they might just decide to fire you. What you hadn't realized before is that they could've walked in and seen that you wore green socks to work today and fired you (quite legally) for that too.

I would much prefer to be treated by a conscientious hazard conscious employee, but unfortunately, in today's work climate, they can reward your desire to follow the rules with a termination. You might call OSHA and they might be interested enough to come in and check on how thoroughly your former company was following the protocols regarding treatment of hazardous waste in the facility. If the new employee thought that container was only for sharps, and didn't have another ideas about where to put bloody bandaging, they may be a little remiss in their training. But you will never hear about it, will never know if they took action based on your complaint or not.

You were talking about the little band aid they give you to stick on the puncture site where they've drawn your blood, weren't you? Doesn't really matter, you could've been talking about masses of bloody packing from an arterial bleed, your employer could still fire you legally in this situation.