Speaking of Nurses....

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Joe Guy
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Speaking of Nurses....

Post by Joe Guy »

COVID-19-positive Bay Area nurse sues Kaiser for racial discrimination

Traveling nurse and surgical technician Courtney Jackson began working at Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa on March 9. Shortly thereafter, according to Jackson, the hospital began rationing PPE, with nurses only allotted one mask a day. Five days into his new job, he began experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, eventually requiring hospitalization. Then two days after returning to work, he says he was terminated from his position on March 28.

In a lawsuit seeking over a million dollars in damages filed July 9 in Alameda County, Jackson asserted that his 13-week contract was terminated prematurely not only due to disability discrimination and whistleblowing on the lack of PPE, but also racial discrimination, as he was the only Black traveling nurse on staff. Along with Kaiser, Alliant Staffing is also included in the lawsuit.

“I experienced racism and discrimination unlike anytime I’ve ever experienced it in my life," Jackson told SFGATE in an exclusive interview. “In the midst of a pandemic that could’ve taken my life, there’s no price you can put on how I feel. How deserted and how a health care system can treat the people who stand up for it, who fight for it and who work for it.”

Jackson asserted that his concerns over initial symptoms of the virus were ignored by his superiors, and he claims he was repeatedly refused a test as well as requests for additional PPE, with one doctor allegedly joking about the potential he may have contracted the illness. When he showed signs of fatigue, Jackson said his manager implied that he was sleeping on the job out of laziness. Following three 12-hour shifts, he took four days off.

“Those four days were the worst four days ever,” says Jackson. “COVID took over my body to the point that I could barely breathe. But I told myself, I'm gonna fight, I’ve gotta go to work, this is my income so I’ve gotta go. I pushed myself to get to that hospital, I could barely walk down the hallway.” [Smart thinking, Jackson!]

He returned to work with extreme difficulty breathing and dizziness, then was sent to the emergency room for treatment where he tested positive for COVID-19. Around this time, he reportedly was told he would be terminated based on a decreasing need for nurses, which he contests. Jackson also alleges that he was the only employee terminated at the time, which he attributes to both health and racial discrimination. He claims to have filed several complaints with Kaiser, but did not receive a response.

When reached for comment, Kaiser supplied the following statement:

“This allegation is not true. This individual was not a Kaiser Permanente employee. He is employed by an organization contracted by Kaiser Permanente to provide temporary staff. We cannot provide details regarding any personnel matter.”

Alliant Staffing provided the following comment:

"Courtney Jackson is still employed by Alliant Staffing. Kaiser is the one who ended his contract."

Jackson is represented by Mosley and Associates, who stated that joint employers cannot be shielded by staffing agencies.

"Mr. Jackson performed all his 'traveling nurse' duties for Kaiser, who controlled his schedule, set the unsafe N95 mask policy, and, clearly, both hired him and fired him," attorney Walter Mosley wrote via email. "However, Alliant is not off the hook. The courts will hold both of these parties responsible and between the two of them, they will decide who will have to compensate Mr. Jackson for Kaiser’s unlawful behavior."

“It’s very unfortunate the way that Courtney was treated, being someone who raised concerns about health," added co-council Nathalie Meza Contreras. "That’s a violation of California’s labor code section 63-10, which is if an employee blows a whistle on health and safety concerns they should not be retaliated against. It’s a violation of his rights as someone with a disability, a medical condition. And it is also ultimately as well, racial discrimination.”

Jackson worked in hospitals in the Bay Area previously, including a Kaiser facility in Redwood City. After months of recuperation, he is now without symptoms and accepted a new contract in Chicago.
source

Those damn racists! If he was white, he would have been allowed to keep working and spread the covid virus.

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dales
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Re: Speaking of Nurses....

Post by dales »

Here's a sampling of the discussion boards relating to the SF Gate article:
COVID-19-positive Bay Area nurse sues Kaiser for racial discrimination
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PAC_man
5 hours ago
Why would any hospital want a nurse still sick with COVID-19 to be working for them???
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Tomix
5 hours ago
Looking for the money tree.
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brotherbuzz
5 hours ago
Suing everyone for everything even remotely possible.
Hey, lawyers have to live during these difficult times.
Wondering how many patients were infected during those early days of his infection.
Guess they'll all be getting lawyers as well.
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StephenKing
6 hours ago
He went back to work with covid symptoms and he thought it was a good idea?
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leen321
6 hours ago
When you are a traveling tech, nurse, therapist, etc you can be fired the day you start.
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SFNative43
5 hours ago
I worked for Kaiser on Franklin St in Oakland for a few years after my retirement. Kaiser may be many things but it is not racist.
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tim_fenderer
6 hours ago
“COVID took over my body to the point that I could barely breathe. But I told myself, I'm gonna fight, I’ve gotta go to work, this is my income so I’ve gotta go. I pushed myself to get to that hospital, I could barely walk down the hallway.”

He was a medical professional, knew for a fact he was sick, yet went to work anyway and exposed doctors, nurses, and sick patients to a deadly virus because he valued his paycheck over the health and lives of others. He should be charged with a crime for this - not given any sympathy and certainly not awarded any money in a lawsuit.
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Irish_Mit
5 hours ago
I don't really buy this story. He went to work knowing he was sick? He should have been fired on the spot.
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silverbullet02
5 hours ago
It's now the dawn of the opportunist lawsuit pandemic.
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rachelkawork
5 hours ago
He is a contractor to kaiser, not an employee. Kaiser didn’t pay him directly for his work. Kaiser paid for his employer, and his employer paid him. His employer breached the contractor because he is not qualified for the job. And he is not terminated from Kaiser cuz he never worked for Kaiser! He is still an employee to his employer. SFgate writer needs to understand some basic law.
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Your collective inability to acknowledge this obvious truth makes you all look like fools.


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ex-khobar Andy
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Re: Speaking of Nurses....

Post by ex-khobar Andy »

Without going into the rights and wrongs of this case, there is another shoe still to drop on the virus. There will be lawsuits - trillions of dollars worth - with people suing anybody with longish pockets who could plausibly be the reason their granny/spouse/child caught COVID and died/suffered brain damage. Those sued will include China, states, airlines, medical institutions, grocery stores, school boards, neighbors - anyone against whom a plausible claim can be made. Of course those entities such as the Trump re-election people who had the foresight to put a disclaimer into their invitations to his gatherings will be immune. There are something like 3000 cases per year of mesothelioma in the US but we've all seen countless ads for lawyers who chase this disease. So far after about five months since the first cases arrived in the US we have seen about 130,000 deaths from more than 3 million cases.

You do the math.

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Crackpot
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Re: Speaking of Nurses....

Post by Crackpot »

You forgot cruise ships
Okay... There's all kinds of things wrong with what you just said.

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TPFKA@W
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Re: Speaking of Nurses....

Post by TPFKA@W »

Of course the first to go are the agency nurses, then "voyagers" who work for the same company at different facilities. They are the most expensive so out the door they must go. That being said I wonder how many people he is responsible for becoming critically ill perhaps resulting in death? Perhaps he to will be sued. That race-card shit he is pulling? He is an ass for doing that because it causes those who have an actual case to be taken less seriously.

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Long Run
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Re: Speaking of Nurses....

Post by Long Run »

Kind of impressive to combine BLM and COVID to create mania squared and exponential damages! Of course, if he could figure out how to weave in a global warming angle, he'd have the trifecta.

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Joe Guy
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Re: Speaking of Nurses....

Post by Joe Guy »

I'm sure he could raise the obese discrimination card (FLM).....

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TPFKA@W
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Re: Speaking of Nurses....

Post by TPFKA@W »

https://www.fr24news.com/a/2020/07/covi ... ation.html

In this article one discovers that he was sleeping at work. The mystery of his dismissal deepens.

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