Baroudi v. Shinseki — Oct. 2015 (Summary)

EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION – NATIONAL ORIGIN, RELIGION, GENDER

Baroudi v. Shinseki
Case No: 8:14-cv-1099-T-30TBM (M.D. Fla. Oct. 20, 2015)

The United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida granted summary judgment to the Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary on claims of retaliation made by a former employed physician. Even though the physician was facing scrutiny for a previously occurring privacy violation, she proceeded to violate the privacy policy a second time by taking photographs of patient records that were left in unsecure locations. She then provided the photographs to the attorney representing her in her discrimination/retaliatory hostile work environment lawsuit against the hospital, in the effort to demonstrate that other employees also violated patients’ privacy but were not treated as harshly. The employer investigated this behavior and placed the physician on a 14-day suspension, which was eventually reduced to a seven-day “paper suspension” with pay.

The physician argued that her actions were part of a “litigation privilege,” which allowed her to violate her employer’s privacy policies, with no consequence. The court was not persuaded by this because it saw that the employer had legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons for suspending the employee and investigating the allegations of privacy breaches. The court also ruled that the employee’s declining performance evaluations and perceived personal animosity were not significant enough to amount to retaliation by the employer.