HUNTINGTON – A lawsuit against St. Mary's Medical Center filed by a nurse has been transferred into Cabell Circuit Court.
The lawsuit was initially filed by Denise Thomas in Lincoln Circuit Court in September. St. Mary's filed a motion to dismiss for improper venue on Oct. 28 and the court agreed to transfer the case to Cabell Circuit Court in November. The case officially was transferred Dec. 2.
Thomas also named Donna Swiger and 10 unnamed individuals in the case.
Thomas claims she was hired by St. Mary's in 2003 as a registered nurse and worked in various registered nurse positions over the years. For 14 years, Thomas alleges she never had any formal disciplinary actions taken against her, but when Swiger became the clinical nurse manager for the Behavioral Health Unit, Swiger began disciplining the older nurses and even suspended her in March 2017.
Thomas claims she and several of the older nurses sought transfers out of the unit because they had heard that Swiger was seeking a younger workforce.
One former nurse was told to resign or be fired only two to three weeks prior to the defendants' terminating Thomas' employment, according to the suit.
Thomas claims she was attacked by a psychiatric patient on Oct. 19, 2017, and she suffered injuries to her body and her face. She claims following the attack, Swiger suspended her again, saying she was "overly aggressive" to the patient. The defendants then terminated her employment on Nov. 3, 2017.
Thomas alleges she never received any paperwork regarding her termination, but she later received a letter from the state Board of Examiners for Registered Nurses and she challenged the discipline and agreed to a period of 12 months' probation so that she could maintain her current employment.
St. Mary's had a seniority policy and Swiger violated the staffing and scheduling policy because she was scheduling older nurses for less-desirable shifts, according to the suit.
Thomas alleges Swiger targeted her and began to scrutinize her employment, which led to her termination. She claims the West Virginia Human Rights Act was violated.
Thomas is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. She is represented by Abraham Saad of Saad Dixon Law Offices in Huntington.
Cabell Circuit Court case number 19-C-533
