A jury has ordered Kaiser Foundation Hospitals to pay nearly $1 million to a former company pharmacist who alleged she was fired in 2022 in a backlash for taking leave to care for herself after she was diagnosed with the coronavirus.
On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Superior Court panel found that Ani J. Adamian, now 44, was subjected to retaliation and that her request to take a medical leave was a "substantial factor" in Kaiser's decision to take an adverse action against her. Jurors awarded Adamian $893,165 in compensatory damages and $100,000 in punitive damages.
Kaiser attorneys maintained Adamian was suspected of providing false timekeeping information in July 2022 and that the health provider was justified in firing her and that an investigation showed the plaintiff repeatedly arrived after her shift had started and left early, using her cell phone to clock in and out when she was not actually in her work area.
Adamian tried to justify her actions by maintaining that she needed to transport her son to and from preschool, according to the hospital attorneys' court papers.
In her lawsuit brought in November 2022, Adamian says she was hired as a pharmacist intern in August 2004 and later became a licensed pharmacist after she completed her schooling. For 18 years, she had an impeccable history of documenting her working hours and following the laws and defendants' policies, the suit stated.
During the last few months of her Kaiser employment, Adamian contracted the coronavirus, requiring her to take time off in July 2022 to care for her relatives and herself, the suit stated. When Adamian returned to work in later that month, her supervisor sent her a message that read, "We need to set up a time to discuss your COVID leave ... and attendance," the suit stated.
Adamian's boss told her in August 2022 that she had concerns about Adamian's attendance and her leaving work for family needs, stating, "I have an investigation that has not been completed yet," the suit stated.
Adamian was suspended in September 2022 and fired the next month, according to the suit, which further stated that her boss told her she had violated Kaiser's employee attendance policy.
Adamian experienced lost income and emotional distress because her firing, the suit stated. She also acquired post-traumatic stress disorder acquired when she was robbed of her purse at gunpoint while working at a Kaiser facility in Northridge in September 2016, the suit stated.