A nurse is suing a Pittsburgh hospital, alleging it violated her rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act when they fired her while she was taking care of her ill father.
Lynn M. Cimino of McKees Rock filed a lawsuit Sept. 1 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania against Magee-Women’s Hospital of UPMC.
According to the complaint, on June 4, Cimino, who had worked for the hospital for nearly 30 years, requested and received leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act to take care of her father, who had undergone surgery. She was approved for two hours a day, three times a week, the suit says. She asked her leave to be updated when her father underwent another surgery, revising her leave time to three hours a day, five days a week and was granted her amended request, the lawsuit states.
Cimino was off June 17 for one hour, and June 18 for eight hours for her father’s second emergency surgery, the lawsuit says, and was off eight hours July 2 for her father’s follow-up surgery appointment. She also was off July 20 for eight hours for her another follow-up appointment, the suit says. Shortly after, she was told she was being fired for “for business reasons,” the lawsuit states.
Cimino seeks reinstatement, full value of wages and benefits that she would have received prior to being fired, as well as legal costs, expenses and attorney fees. She is represented by attorney Samuel J. Cordes of Pittsburgh.
U.S .District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania case number 2:15-cv-01145-CB