Possible lawsuit from a new grad I was only trying to help

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Hi,

I am an LVN and have worked in skilled rehab facilities for almost 5 years. I love it and lets be honest 40 patients is not for most nurses. We have a new grad from india who claims to have experience in her country but its questionable when she gives care. I have tried to help her and have been very forward with her but she is dense and not receptive. Well now she has hired a lawyer and is claiming harassment. What do I do and how do i interact with her at work?

Specializes in Hospice.

I tend to agree - maybe looking to stir up some anti-immigrant fireworks.

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Hackles are raised in anger or for a sense of impending danger to self, not for recognition of a deteriorating patient situation or disbelief, just to be clear. :) Origin is the fur on the back of a dog's neck that goes up when they are threatened or angry = hackles. "That raised my hackles" means, "That made me angry."

Ahem. As to the case at hand, anybody can sue anybody. It's not a matter of whether a court will accept it (although there are conditions for that, usually about whether the party has standing to bring a suit), but whether an attorney will accept it.

This sort of thing would never fly for a number of reasons, the most important being that someone who felt she was in a hostile work environment would go after the employer who fostered/permitted it, not an individual coworker who p***ed her off. If we aren't talking assault or battery or other such bad conduct, there's no case here IMHO (I am not an attorney and don't play one on AN).

We're done c this now. ;)

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Oncology, Neurology, Rehab.

OP, I am so sorry to hear you are going through this.

I once had an lady from India who was a "sitter" but she was also Muslim. Well, guess what, I go into the patient's room and she was on her prayer rug praying and continued and did not even stop when I came in, even though she was suppose to be watching the patient. If that patient had gotten out of bed and fell I wonder what she would have done and what would have been her excuse.

I was not against her praying, but at least she could have told me at the beginning of the shift she would be preforming her prayer ritual, she was working 12 hours from 7am-7pm so she had to pray 5 times a day. I never reported her or said anything to her about her job duties. I know if some other nurses had encountered this they would have gotten the charge nurse to call her agency and terminate her.

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Specializes in Neuro ICU and Med Surg.
OP, I am so sorry to hear you are going through this.

I once had an lady from India who was a "sitter" but she was also Muslim. Well, guess what, I go into the patient's room and she was on her prayer rug praying and continued and did not even stop when I came in, even though she was suppose to be watching the patient. If that patient had gotten out of bed and fell I wonder what she would have done and what would have been her excuse.

I was not against her praying, but at least she could have told me at the beginning of the shift she would be preforming her prayer ritual, she was working 12 hours from 7am-7pm so she had to pray 5 times a day. I never reported her or said anything to her about her job duties. I know if some other nurses had encountered this they would have gotten the charge nurse to call her agency and terminate her.

I just wonder why she didn't just ask to take a break at specific times to go and pray. Seems strange to put the prayer rug down in a patient's room and begin to pray. I would cringe if she did that in an isolation room.

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Sorry this is your situation. We must keep in mind that help must be solicited. Please remember there are cultural differences so when we thinking we are helping someone, in actuality, it may be seen as offensive. If your intentions are in the right place it will shine thru. Try to not be alone with her...ever. Workplace lawsuit is a little bit over the edge of crazy, if that's the case, some doctors need a day of justice (personal rant) and not from just the patients. Good luck!

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.
OP, I am so sorry to hear you are going through this.

I once had an lady from India who was a "sitter" but she was also Muslim. Well, guess what, I go into the patient's room and she was on her prayer rug praying and continued and did not even stop when I came in, even though she was suppose to be watching the patient. If that patient had gotten out of bed and fell I wonder what she would have done and what would have been her excuse.

I was not against her praying, but at least she could have told me at the beginning of the shift she would be preforming her prayer ritual, she was working 12 hours from 7am-7pm so she had to pray 5 times a day. I never reported her or said anything to her about her job duties. I know if some other nurses had encountered this they would have gotten the charge nurse to call her agency and terminate her.

I wouldn't have anything against her praying either. But if praying interferes with her duties as a sitter--and if she's not looking at the patient she's NOT doing her duties as a sitter--it's not appropriate. She should have made arrangements (either through her manager or on her own) for other staff to cover her during these breaks. If she needs five breaks for prayer, fine, just tell me so I can plan around them.

Also, what if the patient was uncomfortable with her praying in the room, what then?

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Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.
I didn't realize this was something one could sue another person over. Weird.

You can sue anyone for anything these days...

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If she does file a lawsuit, you will need an attorney. Look up your local court guidelines as they will state how long you have to respond to any type of lawsuit so that you will know what time frame you have to find an attorney. They even have guidelines on what format you can answer in (font type, size, paper type, size, etc.), but I would really get an attorney for that and not try to do it on your own.

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Why not countersue? Just kidding - you need a lawyer immediately if you are really been sued. Do what the lawyer says to do, not your nursing peers here. We are not lawyers. You've gotten good advice here, here's some more. Stop posting information that could identify you here. Your enemy might be reading allnurses.

When you say she's dense ad not receptive, we don't really know why you say it. But please don't give details here. You've already said too much. Ask that your thread be removed.

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That's actually really, really illegal and if it IS happening needs to be reported.

It is not against the law for anyone to make minimum wage. And because they are "travelers" the travel company can pay them whatever they would like to.

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Perhaps an attorney familiar with the RN's cultural background may make for a higher probability to mediate outside a courtroom. It may come down to a misunderstanding stemming from a cultural difference. The way an American nurse would communicate v. the way a nurse newly arrived from Singapore or India would is very different. What content and manner of speaking in the U.S. is understood to be helpful, straightforward, and constructive feedback may be viewed as hostile and intimidating in another culture. This does not mean that one cannot opine in the workplace but rather that ideas are expressed in a more roundabout and diplomatic way. Certainly you were trying to help her at work and ideally this would be well-received, but it's possible that with the combination of personality, background, job expectations, she was limited in her ability to understand, and processed the experience in a way that does not accurately reflect your good intentions. Trying to step back and see where the RN was coming from as well as making allowances for her communication nuances could hopefully help with resolving this matter without massive legal expenses and stress. Hope this works out painlessly.

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What I do not understand is how does this person think that they have a case if they never have complained to HR or the supervisor about the situation. This seems like there is no supporting facts that they tried to address the matter. You can certainly sue anyone for anything but in a work case there are work laws in place for these kinds of situations that make the employer the first person to go to address the situation and if you do not do that then the courts will not take this as a real case as they have taken no action with the employer to either separate you form each other or stop a hostile work environment. I would let my employer know that if they do not fix the hostile work environment that they have allowed to ensue I would file a counter law suit against the employer and the person that has file a lawsuit on me. I bet if you informed your HR department of this he/she would be let go as soon as they could. AS fare as attorneys start shopping around. I bet if there is no real support to what this person is saying. When you file the 2 law suits against them you will not be able to back down on your law suits if the attorney is working for a % of what ever you win. You will win against the employer because they have still allowed the hostile work environment and they will settle out of court. I hate the fact that you have to do this but for an employer to keep both of you still working there and try to take an i'm not in this position does not work as they have to by federal law maintain a safe no hostile work environment for all employees. That's under the U.S. Department of Labor - A Summary of Major DOL Laws

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