generalhospital
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Michigan
My wife is Nurse coordinator at a hospital. She has an incurable liver disease and was told by hospital that they were putting her on disability because her disease is affecting her clinical decision making process & their were some unhappy nurses & a department morale problem. HR had a hospital wide campaign to have all managers write up employees for punching in late. My wife implemented & a long time nurse had seven violations in six month's and was disciplinary action. The nurse told everyone and started to get nurses & doctors on her side which created a hostile work environment. She was always backed by her boss who is in charge of department discipline. Recently her boss disciplined a secretary and asked her to sit in as a witness during the meeting. A doctor shortly after the meeting, who has a relationship employee, threatened my wife in front of three tech's thinking it was part her decision. This doctor beat his wife with-in minutes of her death & left her for dead in a parking lot. He serves jail time on the weekends. His words were more job threatening but with finger pointing & an aggressive voice said that he would not put up with this & was going to do something about it. HR told her she should write down everything he said & they would investigate. HR told my wife & her boss & said my wife's story was verified exactly the same by all three employees in separate meetings & they agreed that she felt threatened. A few weeks later my wife was forced on disability. She has never had any discipline, always good employee performance reviews, has only missed one day of work in the last year. She has never been counseled by her doctor that she can't work or her illness is or could affect her work,(he works in this unit). The hospital never has worked with her to solve the employee problems. The nurses went over her & her bosses head with a letter signed by 4 or 5 nurses about six months ago. Complaints came to her through her boss on department issues & she has defended her actions & position & her boss has backed her decisions. Other nurses and staff including a doctor that does not want to get involved feels she is taking the fall for the lack of management discipline & in dealing with the hostile environment. This forced disability leave we believe makes my wife unemployable with what they used as a reason. My wife was asked to sign a form applying for disability & they told her they would need a doctor to write a letter to sign off on it. Our concern is they could say it was her that asked for this. She asked HR with boss present how she could go about this since her liver doctor has never said she could not work. They said her regular doctor could do it but she said he is not a liver specialist. They suggested she could have her local endoscopy doctor to do it. He works in the department has has never told her she could not work or her decisions have been affected by the disease. Our religious beliefs keep us from making up a disability. My wife told HR that this statement by them & decision to release her on disability affects our livelyhood. They said we see you have bought up to 2/3 pay on short term and have bought long term disability. (50% of pay) We bought this for the inevitable liver transplant. She told her boss last week that her brother was having a test done this week to be a potential living donor. They made it sound like all the staff was concerned for her health??? Her boss announced in a department meeting with the nurses that my wife was going on disability and she was going to have surgery (a nurse called her because she was concerned & was crying). This is not true. (Could tomorrow or years away)She is on the liver transplant list. Her liver doctor said she could definitely return to nurse work after the surgery if it is successful. We really feel her lively hood is being threatened They gave her no examples or specific reasons why they believe her health affected her work performance. What are legal options?
My wife is Nurse coordinator at a hospital. She has an incurable liver disease and was told by hospital that they were putting her on disability because her disease is affecting her clinical decision making process & their were some unhappy nurses & a department morale problem. HR had a hospital wide campaign to have all managers write up employees for punching in late. My wife implemented & a long time nurse had seven violations in six month's and was disciplinary action. The nurse told everyone and started to get nurses & doctors on her side which created a hostile work environment. She was always backed by her boss who is in charge of department discipline. Recently her boss disciplined a secretary and asked her to sit in as a witness during the meeting. A doctor shortly after the meeting, who has a relationship employee, threatened my wife in front of three tech's thinking it was part her decision. This doctor beat his wife with-in minutes of her death & left her for dead in a parking lot. He serves jail time on the weekends. His words were more job threatening but with finger pointing & an aggressive voice said that he would not put up with this & was going to do something about it. HR told her she should write down everything he said & they would investigate. HR told my wife & her boss & said my wife's story was verified exactly the same by all three employees in separate meetings & they agreed that she felt threatened. A few weeks later my wife was forced on disability. She has never had any discipline, always good employee performance reviews, has only missed one day of work in the last year. She has never been counseled by her doctor that she can't work or her illness is or could affect her work,(he works in this unit). The hospital never has worked with her to solve the employee problems. The nurses went over her & her bosses head with a letter signed by 4 or 5 nurses about six months ago. Complaints came to her through her boss on department issues & she has defended her actions & position & her boss has backed her decisions. Other nurses and staff including a doctor that does not want to get involved feels she is taking the fall for the lack of management discipline & in dealing with the hostile environment. This forced disability leave we believe makes my wife unemployable with what they used as a reason. My wife was asked to sign a form applying for disability & they told her they would need a doctor to write a letter to sign off on it. Our concern is they could say it was her that asked for this. She asked HR with boss present how she could go about this since her liver doctor has never said she could not work. They said her regular doctor could do it but she said he is not a liver specialist. They suggested she could have her local endoscopy doctor to do it. He works in the department has has never told her she could not work or her decisions have been affected by the disease. Our religious beliefs keep us from making up a disability. My wife told HR that this statement by them & decision to release her on disability affects our livelyhood. They said we see you have bought up to 2/3 pay on short term and have bought long term disability. (50% of pay) We bought this for the inevitable liver transplant. She told her boss last week that her brother was having a test done this week to be a potential living donor. They made it sound like all the staff was concerned for her health??? Her boss announced in a department meeting with the nurses that my wife was going on disability and she was going to have surgery (a nurse called her because she was concerned & was crying). This is not true. (Could tomorrow or years away)She is on the liver transplant list. Her liver doctor said she could definitely return to nurse work after the surgery if it is successful. We really feel her lively hood is being threatened They gave her no examples or specific reasons why they believe her health affected her work performance. What are legal options?