Dignity Health Medical Assistant’s Discrimination Lawsuit Dismissed

Virginia M. Arnold, former Dignity Health Medical Assistant, was terminated from her job. Upon her termination, she was provided with numerous reasons for her dismissal including HIPAA violations (failing to safeguard a patient’s personal health info), displaying inappropriate materials in the workplace (posting a picture of a shirtless male model at the office), careless job performance, failure to respond honestly to an investigation, and failing to take responsibility for her actions. Arnold filed a lawsuit shortly after her termination claiming discrimination.

Plaintiff Claims Age Discrimination on the Job: 

Arnold’s lawsuit includes allegations of discrimination based on her age and her association with African-Americans. The trial court granted summary judgement to Dignity Health, and the decision was upheld by the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal held that alleged comments regarding Arnold’s age from co-workers did not apply as the co-workers were not materially involved in her termination. Additionally, they found that another employee expressing surprise at Arnold’s age when discussing her birthday did not qualify as discriminatory. 

No Evidence Found of Connection Between Cited Supervisor and Arnold’s Termination

In her lawsuit, Arnold cited a specific supervisor. Arnold claims she submitted a complaint about the supervisor’s alleged mistreatment of a Black coworker. The plaintiff claimed this situation led to association determination. However, the Court found no evidence that the supervisor involved in the incident had any involvement in Arnold’s termination. Arnold also claimed that Dignity failed to follow their own disciplinary policies, but the Court found that this did not create a triable issue of fact connecting to the plaintiff’s claims. 

If you need to discuss employment law violations in the workplace or file a wrongful termination lawsuit, please get in touch with Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik DeBlouw LLP. Experienced employment law attorneys are ready to assist you in any one of various law firm offices located in San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Riverside, and Chicago.