Foster v. Jennie Stuart Med. Ctr., Inc. (Summary)

WRONGFUL TERMINATION

Foster v. Jennie Stuart Med. Ctr., Inc., Nos. 2011-CA-001136-MR, 2011-CA-001137-MR (Ky. Ct. App. Sept. 20, 2013)

The Court of Appeals of Kentucky affirmed in part and reversed in part a summary judgment order against two nurses after they had brought suit against a medical center for wrongful termination, defamation, and the denial of termination appeal rights. The medical center stated that it had terminated the nurses’ employment because “it was in the best interests of the institution.” The nurses believed that they had been fired because the medical center suspected that they were the authors of an anonymous email sent to the state nursing board which reported nursing practices at the medical center that were outside the scope of acceptable standards and an unsafe hospital environment.

The court dismissed one of the nurse’s claims for unlawful retaliation in violation of a state law, as the law does not allow protection for someone who is not the whistleblower and, in this case, the nurse was not the actual whistleblower. The court, however, held that the nurse could maintain a claim for wrongful termination, reasoning that the elements of the common-law wrongful termination were met if the nurse was discharged because it was believed that she sent the anonymous email; this would violate the stated public policy to ensure safe health care facilities.

The court ordered further review by the lower court of the nurses’ claim that the medical center refused to comply with the nurses’ employee appeal rights. After the nurses were terminated, their access to the medical center’s computer network was also terminated, and they could not access the online version of the employee manual.  The nurses also claimed that the medical center would not provide them with paper copies of the appeal procedure.