After accusation by ‘disgruntled’ baby sitter, fired nurse wins jobless benefits
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An Iowa judge has awarded jobless benefits to a nurse who was fired after a “disgruntled” baby sitter accused her of stealing patient medications.
State records indicate that earlier this year, Tanya L. Jordan was worked at an Iowa nursing home run by the chain Care Initiatives. Jordan was a full-time charge nurse responsible for administering “as needed” narcotics to residents.
According to the recent findings of an administrative law judge, Jordan’s baby sitter, Lori Hazen, sent Jordan a cryptic message on April 10 of this year, detailing the anxiety she was dealing with and adding, “I’m not threatening you or trying to p— you off because I consider you a good friend, but I’m backed into a corner. Please help me.”
Two days later, Hazen allegedly sent additional messages, this time writing, “I can’t babysit anymore. I expect you to pay me the bulk of what you owe me within 30 days … Just wanted you to know that I haven’t deleted any of my messages since January. Since you won’t help me out with $60, I have no choice but to share my messages with your administrator.”
Days later, Care Initiatives received a tip from Hazen that alleged Jordan was misappropriating medications that belonged to residents. After conducting a narcotic count and interviewing residents, the company concluded there were four instances in which residents said they didn’t receive the narcotics Jordan claimed to have given them.
Jordan was fired, after which Hazen sent the nursing home administrator a message stating, “I would like to retract the allegation I made against Tanya Jordan. It was a mistake on my part. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
Jordan subsequently applied for unemployment benefits and the company appealed, which led to a hearing before Administrative Law Judge Carly Smith.
Smith recently ruled in Jordan’s favor, attributing the accusation of theft to a “disgruntled babysitter.” Jordan was awarded unemployment benefits.
“The employer is unaware how many pills were actually misappropriated,” Smith stated in her ruling. “No one observed (Jordan) take the pills … The employer conducted an investigation into the matter and based on four long-term care residents’ recollections, discharged the claimant for misappropriation of medication.”
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