A former medical official at the New York Times claims she was fired because she wouldn’t give out confidential medical information about employees to their bosses.
In a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Dr. Sheila Horn claims the Old Gray Lady gave her the boot “as a result of her insistence that the Times discontinue its practice of permitting certain of its managers to review the confidential medical files of employees in violation of federal and state law.”
She also claims she was ordered “to misinform employees regarding whether injuries or illnesses they were suffering were work-related so as to curtail the number of Worker’s Compensation claims filed against the Times.”
Horn, who was laid off last year, is seeking unspecified monetary damages and to be reinstated at the paper. She also wants an injuction stopping the Times from wrongfully examining employee records.
Catherine Mathis, a spokeswoman for the Times, said the paper hadn’t seen the suit and refused comment.
In court papers, Horn said she started working part-time at the paper in 1995 and by July of 1996 had been promoted to associate medical director, a full-time job.
Her responsibilities were to provide “medical care, treatment and advice to employees of the Times,” as well as “determining if injuries suffered by Times employees were work-related,” which would make them eligible for Worker’s Comp, the suit says.
Horn claims that “on frequent occasions,” the paper’s labor relations, legal and human resources departments ordered her to turn over employee records “without those employees’ consent or knowledge.”
She says she stopped complying after the state Health Department told her that turning over the records violated state law and federal regulations — and she also refused to toe the line when asked to “misinform” workers about their injuries.
A year later, Horn was told she was being “phased out” of her job because the paper had decided to “out-source” its medical care.
She complains the paper wouldn’t let her stay on with a lower salary.