Can My Health Care Employer In New York Fire Me For Disclosing Or Objecting To My Employer’s Improper Quality Of Patient Care Or Improper Quality Of Workplace Safety?

This article will discuss:

• The protections that, in New York, whistleblower health care executives and professionals possess against retaliatory firing.

• Retaliatory actions by health care employers against executives and professionals that are barred by New York law. 

• Remedies obtainable by health care employees in a lawsuit for retaliatory discharge and the limitations period for filing such a lawsuit. 

No. In New York State, health care employers are forbidden from terminating, or taking other adverse actions against, a health care executive or professional because the executive or professional discloses or threatens to disclose to a supervisor, to a public body, to a news media outlet, or to a social media forum available to the public at large, objects to, or refuses to take part in, an activity, policy or practice of the employer that the executive or professional reasonably believes constitutes improper quality of patient care or improper quality of workplace safety.

Under New York law, as a health care executive or a professional, you are considered an employee. Consequently, as a health care executive or a professional in New York, you are safeguarded by the same anti-discrimination and anti-retaliation statutes that protect other health care employees.

The New York Whistleblower Law (the “Whistleblower Law”), N.Y. Labor Law § 741, prohibits health care employers from, among other ” ʹ[r]etaliatory action[s],ʹ ” discharging, suspending, demoting, penalizing, discriminating, or taking other adverse employment action against a health care employee in the terms and conditions of employment because the employee takes any of the following actions:

• Discloses or threaten to disclose to a supervisor, to a public body, to a news media outlet, or to a social media forum available to the public at large, an activity, policy, or practice of the employer or of the employer’s agent that the employee, in good faith, reasonably believes constitutes improper quality of patient care or improper quality of workplace safety; or
• Objects to, or refuse to participate in, any activity, policy, or practice of the employer or of the employer’s agent that the employee, in good faith, reasonably believes constitutes improper quality of patient care or improper quality of workplace safety.

An “employee,” shielded from retaliatory actions by the Whistleblower Law, is any person who performs health care services for and under the control and direction of any public or private employer which provides health care services for wages or other compensation.

“Improper quality of patient care” means, with respect to patient care, any practice, procedure, action or failure to act of a health care employer which violates any law, rule, regulation or declaratory ruling adopted pursuant to law, where that violation relates to matters which may present a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety or a significant threat to the health of a specific patient. 

“Improper quality of workplace safety” means, with respect to health care employees, any practice, procedure, action or failure to act of a health care employer which violates any law, rule, regulation, or declaratory ruling adopted pursuant to law where that violation relates to matters which may present an unsafe workplace environment or risk of employee safety or a significant threat to the health of a specific health care employee.

What Retaliatory Actions Is A Health Care Employer In New York Prohibited From Taking?

A “[r]etaliatory action” prohibited by the New York Whistleblower Law means the discharge, suspension, demotion, penalization or discrimination against a health care employee, or other adverse employment action taken against a health care employee in the terms and conditions of employment.

Must A Health Care Executive Or Professional, To Be Shielded Against Retaliation For Blowing The Whistle On The Health Care Employer’s Suspected Improper Quality Of Patient Care or Suspected Improper Quality Of Workplace Safety, First Afford The Employer Notice Of, And An Opportunity To Cure, Its Activity?

Yes. With certain exclusions, the shield against retaliatory actions that the New York Whistleblower Law affords (for disclosing or objecting to suspected improper quality of patient care or suspected improper quality of workplace safety) applies only where the health care employee has brought the improper quality of patient care or improper quality of workplace safety to the attention of a supervisor and has afforded the health care employer a reasonable opportunity to correct that activity, policy or practice. 

Within What Period Of Time Must A Health Care Executive Or A Professional In New York Sue His Or Her Health Care Employer For Retaliation?

Under the New York Whistleblower Law, a health care employee is required to file any lawsuit against his or her health care employer within two years after the alleged retaliatory action was taken.

What Is The Value Of My Claim For Retaliatory Discharge Against My Health Care Employer In New York?

Remedies available to a health care executive or professional in a lawsuit brought under the New York Whistleblower Law include, among other relief, an injunction to restrain continued retaliatory actions; reinstatement; front pay; compensation for lost wages and benefits; payment by the employer of reasonable attorney’s fees, costs, and disbursements; a civil penalty of up to $10,000; and punitive damages. In a Whistleblower Law action, the health care employee and the employer each have a right to a trial by jury.

For an in-depth discussion of the value, under various statutes, of employees’ causes of action for wrongful termination against their employers in New York, see here.

Can My Health Care Employer Terminate Me Because I Reported Or Opposed An Activity, Policy Or Practice Of The Employer That I Reasonably, But Wrongly, Believed To Be Improper Quality Of Patient Care Or Improper Quality Of Workplace Safety?

In New York, it is against the law for a health care employer to fire, or to take other adverse actions against, a health care executive or a professional for disclosing, objecting to, or refusing to participate in an activity, policy, or practice of the health care employer that the executive or professional believes to be improper quality of patient care or improper quality of workplace safety, even if the executive or professional’s belief is mistaken. For the health care executive’s or professional’s reporting of, or opposition to, the health care employer’s activity, policy, or practice to be protected conduct, the executive’s or professional’s belief (that the employer’s activity, policy, or practice constitutes improper quality of patient care or improper quality of workplace safety) need only be in good faith and reasonable.

To sum up, health care employers in New York cannot fire health care employees for disclosing or objecting to what the employees reasonably believe to be improper quality of patient care or improper quality of workplace safety. If health care employees suffer retaliation for reporting, objecting to, or refusing to take part in such activity, they may sue their health care employers.

If you are an executive or a professional in the New York City metro area and you believe that you have been wrongfully terminated, that you’ve been denied salary, bonuses, commissions, or other wages that are owed to you, or that your employer has failed or refused to reasonably accommodate your disability, call New York City Wrongful Termination Lawyer David S. Rich at (347) 941-0760 today.