A Missouri law firm is representing a woman in her lawsuit filed in Jackson County against a company responsible for collecting and analyzing the urine specimens of professional and collegiate athletes. The plaintiff was employed as a vice president for the drug testing company and had been with the company for over a dozen years.
According to a New York Daily News article last year, problems allegedly occurred with a specimen collected from a prominent National Football League player with the Denver Broncos. A certified collector had supposedly allowed the player to attempt to cheat the urine test after becoming “star struck” over the player.
The woman’s petition states that she was wrongfully terminated after addressing her concerns about the situation to the company president. After she reported the incident, she began to be systematically excluded from the decision-making processes and the investigation into the drug collection incident.
In a February meeting with the president, the plaintiff voiced concerns that she had effectively been demoted within the company after raising “concerns of unethical behavior” of another vice president who was now her direct supervisor.
At another meeting the following month, the plaintiff was informed by the company president that he was accepting her resignation, even though she had never tendered such nor intended to do so. She was forced to immediately surrender all company property and was locked out of her emails and the company’s computer system.
She is seeking punitive damages for wrongful termination under the whistleblower statute.
It can be incredibly frustrating to experience retaliation or be terminated for exposing unethical business practices in the workplace. In cases like this one, a Missouri employment law attorney can file suit and hope to see that justice is rendered and that the wronged party is fairly compensated.
Source: Courthouse News, “Feebleness Alleged in NFL Drug Testing” Joe Harris, Apr. 25, 2014
