Physican’s lawsuit claims Atrium Well being fired her for taking time without work to take care of her daughter

By Last updated Mar 19, 2021

Kelly Gooch – – Thursday March 18, 2021

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A maternal fetal medicine doctor is suing Atrium Health of Charlotte, NC, claiming she experienced retaliation after taking vacation to care for her ailing daughter, The Charlotte Observer reported March 18.

Courtney Stephenson, DO, opened the Charlotte Fetal Care Center in 2010 and is known nationwide for her ability to perform surgeries to treat twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome in the uterus.

Then, in 2019, while caring for her sick child at home, she claims she experienced retaliation and was later released, the observer said.

“Dr. Stephenson has spent her entire career using life-saving surgeries to save other people’s babies. There are babies all over North Carolina and the Southeast who would not be alive without her care,” said doctor’s attorney, Cate Edwards. across from the newspaper. “But when she had to take leave to care for her own child, she faced retaliation and was eventually released. That’s wrong. It’s also illegal.”

Dr. Stephenson, who works at Piedmont Medical Center in Rock Hill, SC, has filed a $ 10 million lawsuit against Atrium, the Carolinas Physicians Network, and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority, according to Observer. The lawsuit alleges violations of the Family and Sick Leave Act, as well as discrimination and retaliation.

Atrium Health contradicts claims made by Dr. Stephenson.

“Atrium Health values Dr. Stephenson’s many years of service. The reasons we severed our relationship with Dr. Stephenson more than a year ago were and are known to her and have been thoroughly explained to her legal counsel,” said a statement from Health system shared with Beckers March 18. “Atrium Health’s decision was entirely legal, reasonable and unrelated to its FMLA allegations. Our mission is to serve the medical and related needs of our community and we support all of our employees, including Dr. Stephenson, who must take a family vacation to care for themselves or their family members. We regret that Dr. Stephenson decided to initiate this lawsuit, but we will defend the decision we made. “

Atrium Health added, “The facts are very different from what is described in the lawsuit. However, we believe that it is best to resolve disputes such as these through legal process rather than public statements. We reserve the right to make additional comments Dr. Stephenson’s departure for a more reasonable time and forum. “

The lawsuit at issue states that Dr. Stephenson spoke about a 30-day hiatus in the Family and Sick Leave Act in May 2019 after learning that her daughter had relapsed from an unknown condition that required “immediate and constant care from her mother,” according to the observer.

Dr. Stephenson said she also talked about temporarily taking time off from the Family and Medical Leave Act to look after her daughter for over six months. The law provides that eligible employees have 12 working weeks of vacation within a period of 12 months, among other things for reasons “to look after the spouse, child or parent of the employee who has a serious health condition” and “a serious one State of health which makes the employee unable to perform the essential functions of his work.

The lawsuit alleges that Dr. Stephenson took a month’s vacation, was called to meetings that month, and then exposed to scrutiny and retaliation, the observer reported. This included a “quality lawsuit” filed against them; of being accused of “placing their responsibilities on their partners” for not saying goodbye properly; and the revocation of their maternal fetal medicine and hospital privileges, the lawsuit alleges.

Dr. Stephenson was fired in November 2019.

Read the full Observer article here.

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