The former director of nursing at a Georgia health care facility hit its owner Thursday with a federal lawsuit claiming she was wrongly fired for taking medical leave when sick with COVID-19.
Melissa Francis, a Georgia resident, said CorrectLife Bostick LLC fired her in early June after she had been hospitalized and home quarantined for several weeks with the virus. She said the company first alleged her termination was over a patient injury that occurred while she was on medical leave, but then pivoted to say she was fired for poor performance.
Francis said CorrectLife had never before communicated its concern over her performance, and that its stated reasons for her termination were pretext for retaliation over her exercising her rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act. She said she had worked as the director of nursing at the company's facility in Milledgeville, Georgia, since January 2018.
"Defendant contended that the patient's injuries [were] likely to result in litigation against the defendant and that plaintiff was responsible because the nursing staff would have been supervised but for her medical leave absence," Francis said in her complaint. "Defendant subsequently changed its reason for plaintiff's termination the following day, citing performance issues from December 2019."
Francis said she sought medical attention and was tested for COVID-19 in mid-April 2020, and learned several days later she had contracted the virus. She said she immediately notified CorrectLife that she was under a doctor's orders to quarantine for two weeks.
Around April 19, 2020, Francis was hospitalized and diagnosed with breathing problems and pneumonia, per her complaint. She said she was sent home on April 28, 2020 under instructions to rest in bed for two weeks.
Francis said she received a text message in late May from CorrectLife's human resources representative advising her that her paid time off work had been exhausted. She said she got clearance from a doctor to return to work, and did so on June 8.
Several days later, Francis received a phone call from CorrectLife chief executive Aaron Minniefield, who said that her employment was terminated effective immediately, per the complaint.
"Minniefield advised plaintiff that defendant was facing a lawsuit for injuries sustained by a patient during plaintiff's medical leave," Francis said. "He further explained that had plaintiff been present for duty on the date and time in question, plaintiff's nursing staff would have been adequately supervised and defendant would not be facing the costs and expenses associated with the patient's injuries."
Francis said the next day she retrieved her personal belongings from the facility and spoke with human resources staff, as well as Minniefield. He allegedly told her then that she was not being fired for poor performance, but subsequently gave her the option of resigning or being fired for performance deficiencies.
Upon her refusal to resign, Francis said Minniefield issued her a written reprimand referencing verbal counseling on three separate occasions, failure to follow policy and procedure, and poor performance. She said that was the first time those issues had been raised with her.
Francis claims CorrectLife interfered with her rights under the FMLA to take medical leave for a serious health condition, without informing her of her eligibility for the time off, and also retaliated against her for exercising her rights.
She wants unspecified damages for loss of income, health insurance and employment benefits, as well as "front pay" or for her job to be reinstated. She also claims unspecified damages for mental and emotional suffering, and attorney fees and costs.
Anthony Dawkins of Morgan & Morgan Atlanta PLLC, representing Francis, told Law360 that she had been a nurse for more than 20 years and worked for CorrectLife in its Bostick Nursing Center — an assisted living facility for former inmates.
Dawkins said the company had refused to engage in pre-litigation discussions. He said he had not seen any lawsuits filed against CorrectLife over the patient injury referenced in Francis' complaint, and that if a case was filed it was unlikely to involve her.
"She wasn't at work at the time and had no relationship to the occurrence," he said.
CorrectLife did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
Francis is represented by Anthony Dawkins of Morgan & Morgan Atlanta PLLC.
Counsel information for CorrectLife was not immediately available.
The case is Francis v. CorrectLife Bostick LLC, case number
5:21-cv-00149, in the
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia.
--Editing by Emily Kokoll.
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