Nurse Who Quit Over Consent Form Policy Entitled to Unemployment Benefits
After a New York hospital in 2007 instituted a policy that nurses must acknowledge they witnessed patients sign informed consent forms regardless of whether the nurses actually did witness the signatures, attorney and R.N. Jean M. Emery effectively resigned on the basis that following the directive would run afoul of attorney professional responsibility rules.
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Emery’s former employer, revised the policy shortly afterward to acknowledge the difference between witnessing and verifying a signature. Nevertheless, the hospital appealed a Workers’ Compensation Board administrative law judge finding that Emery was entitled to unemployment benefits, because the hospital failed to address her valid concerns and gave her good cause to leave her employment, New York Public Personnel Law reported.
Last week, the New York Appellate Division, Third Department, affirmed the board’s finding.
“Under the circumstances here, substantial evidence exists to support the determination that the employer failed to respond to claimant’s concerns within a reasonable time, even though the employer’s general counsel admitted that a professional disciplinary complaint could be filed against an employee who adhered to the policy,” the court wrote.
