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Former nursing home employee files lawsuit

Beaver County Times (PA) - 4/23/2014

April 22--PITTSBURGH -- A former employee of Friendship Ridge nursing home has filed a federal lawsuit, alleging she was wrongfully terminated from her position.

Stephanie Skolnik initially filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2011 after nearly 13 years of working for the then county-owned facility in various positions, including as a nurse's aide.

The EEOC dismissed the complaint in January, saying the agency was not provided with any information establishing any legal violations.

Skolnik filed a federal lawsuit Thursday, claiming she was dismissed because of age discrimination in December 2010.

The lawsuit only names Friendship Ridge as the defendant and does not specify an owner. The time frame of the allegations is when the facility was owned by Beaver County. The facility was sold and began operating under new ownership in March.

The lawsuit says Skolnik was disciplined for actions involving a patient while younger employees were not disciplined for their "lack of action and standing around." The suit also says that in the weeks before and in the months after Skolnik was discharged, several "substantially younger" nurse's aides were hired.

The lawsuit also claims that, after Skolnik was terminated, a prospective employer told her that the facility would not return a phone call, resulting in her not getting a new position. Skolnik did get a new nursing job in late 2013, the suit says.

Skolnik's husband, Carl, told The Times in January that her dismissal was due to a false accusation that she covered the mouth of a patient, which was witnessed by a new staffer, he said. For more than a year, Skolnik worked with that patient, who would regularly scream, her husband said. He said his wife would try to calm the person and hold her fingers by the patient's mouth.

Skolnik is asking the court to issue an injunction to prevent future discriminatory employment practices, reinstatement to her job, back pay and front pay, and damages that are double the amount of the total monetary damages for a finding of a willful violation.

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(c)2014 the Beaver County Times (Beaver, Pa.)

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