Opinion ID: 797387
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: UHS's Treatment of Other Employees

Text: 27 Strong's first contention is that other employees, who Strong alleges acted worse than she did, were disciplined less severely than her or not at all. This, Strong contends, suggests that retaliation was UHS's real motivation for firing her. 28 Strong points to numerous employees and incidents to support her contention. The following, according to Strong, are her two best examples: (1) a doctor who had a mental illness and was responsible for the deaths of patients was allowed to voluntarily resign, and (2) a nurse coordinator who had a drug problem and displayed erratic behavior was not disciplined. Strong contends that she was fired simply for reading a document which had been misfiled, which is less serious than the conduct of the other employees. 29 First, we must point out that UHS has never stated that it fired Strong for reading a single, misfiled document. Rather, the reading of the misfiled document was the last straw, which led to her initial, paid suspension. UHS alleges that it decided to fire her after reviewing that incident along with the other approximately fourteen cited incidents (generally referred to by UHS as poor performance or improper conduct). Regardless, we are not convinced that any of Strong's examples, which are supported solely by her own self-serving affidavit, evidence retaliation. Simply put, none of the examples involve a similarly situated employee who received less severe treatment than Strong did. 30 Of the two examples above, the first involved a doctor, an employee considerably different than a nurse coordinator. We cannot assume, nor require, that hospitals discipline doctors and nurse coordinators in an identical fashion. In addition, the doctor resigned voluntarily, something Strong very clearly was not willing to do. UHS might very well have fired the doctor had he not resigned. Thus, we are unable to say that this example evidences retaliation against Strong. 31 The second example involves a nurse coordinator, but dissimilar conduct. First, we know nothing about the alleged drug problem or its severity. Similarly, Strong sheds no light on the employees alleged erratic behavior. In any event, this particular employee did not have the extensive disciplinary history Strong had when she was fired. Again, we cannot say that this example suggests retaliation against Strong. 32 Strong has not shown that she was treated more harshly than other employees under similar circumstances. Thus, we turn to Strong's only remaining argument.