She was ‘medically laid off’ after FMLA from Boise public health district. Now she’s suing
It had been a year and a half since Cassandra Thompson called 911 over a death threat at Central District Health. By May 2023, Thompson had exhausted her 12 weeks’ worth of family medical leave and continued to struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder, state records obtained by the Idaho Statesman last year showed.
When Thompson asked her employers for extended leave, she never received a clear response, according to those records. Instead, she got a letter from Director Russ Duke, informing her that the Boise-based public health district determined she couldn’t return to her regular work duties and would be “medically laid off.” The Statesman obtained a copy of the termination letter last year.
Thompson has now sued CDH in U.S. District Court, alleging that the agency failed to provide her with reasonable accommodations, wrongfully fired her and violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. She’s seeking back pay, lost benefits and compensatory damages for emotional distress and the loss of her job.
The agency decided on the termination “after CDH failed to engage in any direct conversation with Ms. Thompson or offer any alternative to her suggested accommodation,” Thompson’s attorney, Erika Birch, wrote in the complaint.
Thompson declined to comment for this story.
Thompson was one of several CDH employees who went on family medical leave, returned to work to get fired and were barred from receiving unemployment benefits. The Statesman in November reported on the allegations from former and current employees that CDH leaders prompted high turnover through a culture of retaliation, forced workers out and jeopardized public health services.
Shortly after the Statesman’s story, CDH board members spent $20,000 for a third-party review of the work culture at the health district. They have yet to release the results of the review to the public. CDH also denied the Statesman’s request for a copy of the report.
In response to a request for comment on the lawsuit, sent to CDH’s spokesperson Tuesday, attorney Mike Kane replied. He told the Statesman that “no one at the district has seen a copy of the complaint,” which was filed July 18, and “the district cannot be expected to comment on a document it has not seen.”
Kane said the Idaho Human Rights Commission found “no probable cause to proceed against the district” in a complaint, listing similar allegations, that Thompson filed with the commission against CDH.
“The district stands behind the findings of the commission,” Kane wrote.
CDH workers push back against Spanish policy
In October 2021, a man who was unhappy with his wife’s care called CDH and threatened to kill a health care provider, according to a CDH incident report and Boise police report obtained by the Statesman last year.
Thompson at the time was a business operations specialist who worked with customer service representatives. In the incident report, she described a CDH worker who fielded the call nearly in tears and a lobby filled with several clients. CDH officials kept the doors unlocked and the clinic open to the public despite the death threat, according to the incident report and Thompson’s complaint. More than half an hour after the 911 call, an officer said he didn’t believe the man was a continued threat, the incident report said.
CDH spokesperson Maria Ortega in a statement said the doors were closely monitored after an officer informed a manager that there was no imminent threat. Clients were also informed of the incident when they arrived and given the option to reschedule their appointments, Ortega told the Statesman, and staff were provided with counseling resources.
The event was “stressful and traumatic” for Thompson, Birch wrote in the complaint, who feared people could be killed or injured if a gunman came into the medical clinic. As a result, she faced severe anxiety, which would later be diagnosed as post-traumatic stress disorder.
Thompson went on family medical leave after the incident, and her symptoms improved, according to the complaint. But several months later, Thompson again felt targeted by management.
She had pushed back against orders from her supervisor, Stephanie Myers, and human resources manager Gary Foote to tell employees they couldn’t speak Spanish in the workplace unless they were working with Spanish-speaking clients, according to the complaint.
CDH leaders also punished other employees who raised concerns about the policy, the complaint alleged.
“This ‘English-only’ directive caused concern among many employees, particularly the Hispanic employees, many of whom felt they were being singled out for disparate treatment because of their national origin and heritage,” the complaint said.
CDH officials have since denied they gave such an order. In an email sent Feb. 28, obtained by the Statesman, Myers told staffers that “this information is not accurate; the use of Spanish, or any other language, is not prohibited in practice or policy at CDH.”
But Myers in that email added that staffers should be “inclusive in conversations in business areas within CDH” and aware of “the perception that may occur” when speaking a language in the presence of those who don’t understand it.
“It can make others feel left out of the conversation or bring up other negative feelings,” Myers wrote. “In the spirit of having a respectful workplace, I expect all staff to be inclusive in our conversations in the business setting while honoring our unique backgrounds and contributions.”
CDH: Thompson couldn’t perform ‘essential functions’ of job
In February 2023, Thompson took what remained of her family medical leave, records showed. Feelings of retaliation against workers over the disputed Spanish-speaking policy triggered Thompson’s anxiety and PTSD, according to the complaint. During her leave, Thompson sent an email to the CDH board and the Idaho Attorney General’s Office with concerns about what she termed harassment, discrimination and retaliation.
In April, CDH told Thompson that she was nearly out of allowable hours for family medical leave, so she asked to start the ADA process for reasonable accommodations. Her provider sent an email asking that her medical leave be extended into May. CDH officials asked for a few clarifications but provided limited information on the status of her request, according to the complaint and state records. Thompson then received her termination letter on May 2.
CDH officials said that before they let Thompson go, they contacted her health care provider, who told them that Thompson couldn’t perform the “essential functions” of her position for medical reasons. But the provider denied ever being contacted to talk about alternatives to extended leave as an accommodation, Birch wrote.
CDH posted the opening for her job a day later, and Thompson applied. During the interview process, she said she believed she could perform her job without accommodations. She didn’t get the job “based on the assumption that she would require accommodation and perhaps future FMLA leave when returning to work,” according to the complaint.
Thompson was also initially barred from receiving unemployment benefits, records showed. CDH previously denied to the Statesman that the agency decides on whether a former employee receives those benefits. But state law outlines that the Idaho Department of Labor determines whether an employee was fired for misconduct based on information the employer provides, DOL spokesperson Georgia Smith previously told the Statesman.
After an appeals process, the Idaho Industrial Commission, which fields unemployment benefit disputes, concluded that Thompson qualified for the benefits. She lost her job “because she was ill,” according to the commission’s ruling, which the Statesman obtained last year. “Illness is not misconduct.”
This story was originally published July 31, 2024 at 2:37 PM.
