While a company can let go employees for a variety of reasons, the business must abide by a certain level of fairness. Wrongful termination lawsuits argue that a company fired an employee for unjust and illegal reasons.
These cases happen across a variety of industries, though high-profile, white-collar positions receive the most attention.
Hospital CEO sues for wrongful termination
An article in US News & World Report relates the information of a CEO of a rural hospital in New Mexico who claimed unlawful termination. This happened as the coronavirus pandemic raged through the small community. An extreme 10-day shutdown of the city in May sought to contain an outbreak of COVID-19 in the region. At this time, hospital staff staged protests related to staffing levels at the hospital facility.
The wrongful termination lawsuit targets the hospital’s board chairperson and the medical staff. The suit claims that these entities wrongfully blamed the CEO for consequences of decisions made at this time. The suit seeks payments for harm to the CEO’s reputation and for impacts on future earnings.
Hospital CEO claims others made decisions
The Salt Lake Tribune provides more information on the CEO’s wrongful termination fight. The CEO defended his actions by saying others made important decisions on staffing and medical care.
Other issues in the controversy complicated matters. Employees of the hospital complained of poor working conditions and also expressed concerns about the financial health of the hospital. A spokesperson for the hospital said that negative publicity on finances and the coronavirus issues caused members of the community to lose confidence in the hospital. The hospital’s struggles resulted in numerous people working at the hospital contracting the virus, which played a factor in the termination of the CEO.
