Retaliation due to work comp injuries

[lilly456]

I have been injured on the job twice, once severly and much less the second time. Recently began to get write ups just before 2nd surgery due to first severe injury. Most recent write up I was suspended for 5 days for patient mistreatment. I knew it had to be someone that one of the human resources people knew. I confirmed, on my own, that the patient was in fact the mother of the vice president of human resources. This provided some relief to know how in the world this could have happened as I treat the patients extremely well. My employer then proceded to send in a complaint to the national licenscing agency stating that I mistreated a patient. This was just before my surgery and I have 30 days to respond. Human resources is getting away with this as the patinet also had a family member with her (who would also have been the family member of the human resources person) who made accusations against me. So the argument is that they have proof of my mistreatment while I am left with nothing. I work alone most of the time with patients and have no proof of anything. It really concerns me as to what they will try next and also has opened my eyes to what can happen. I have asked everyone I can think of how do you protect youself from something like this? I did nothing wrong, I actually fixed something someone else had done and made it better for the patient and this is what I got. No lawyers will help me as I have not been fired as of now. I am panicked at the thought of going back to work. I live in a rual area and I can keep looking but as of now there are no jobs in my area that I could go to. I have been with my employer for a long time with no complaints. I am also concerned that if they get away with this behavior what will they accuse me of next.

 

[cbg]

How long since your two work related injuries?

 

[ElleMD]

If the VP of HR's mother claims you mistreated her, there is not a lot you can do except to cooperate with the investigation. If there is a witness, that much more so. I'm not sure what you want us to tell you. If you had some reason other than just having filed a WC claim there might be something there but when you have a patient in a witness saying one thing and an employee trying to claim they just made it all up because of a claim you filed, which the employer will continue to be on the hook for whether you are employed or not, it doesn't look good.

If there is a report that you mistreated a patient, your employer might not have had a choice about reporting it to the licensing board.