A nursing supervisor is suing her former employer, alleging retaliation and unjust termination after she became disabled in a workplace accident.
Pauline Douglas of Texas City filed a lawsuit July 22 in Galveston County District Court against Oceanview Healthcare Inc., also of Texas City, alleging disability discrimination, failure to accommodate and retaliation.
According to the complaint, Douglas was hired by the defendant nursing home Feb. 23, 2013, as the assistant director of nursing, and on July 31, 2013, she was injured while on the job and taken by ambulance to an area emergency room. The suit says her doctor restricted her to light work duty as well as to follow a strict regimen of medication and physical therapy.
However, the lawsuit states, Oceanview Healthcare failed to accommodate the plaintiff's needs and instead "engaged in a pattern of counseling and disciplinary actions which unfairly punished Ms. Douglas for needing to take off for physical therapy and medical treatment." For example, the complaint states, she was issued four disciplinary notices between Aug. 12-26, 2013, and on Sept. 16, 2013, she was fired for "allegedly violating a 'no call, no show' policy. When Douglas disagreed with the cause, the defendant changed the cause of termination to "attendance," the suit says.
Douglas seeks relief between $200,000 and $1 million, plus court costs, interest, back pay, front pay and attorney fees. She is represented by attorney J. Alfred Southerland of Shellist Lazarz Slobin in Houston.
Galveston County District Court case number 15-CV-0764.