Employee files $10M sexual harassment suit against Jacksonville nursing home

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville nursing location installation is facing a $10 cardinal national suit aft a erstwhile worker who is openly cheery says helium was repeatedly harassed by 3 employees and forced to resign aft helium filed complaints with precocious management.

“It felt similar hell. It felt precise uncomfortable,” said Daniel Vernon. “Every day, I came into work. I was not happy.”

Vernon, a certified nursing assistant, said the harassment happened astatine the Life Care Center of Jacksonville installation successful the Baymeadows area.

“I’ve been with the institution for 11 years, and astatine different locations, I was treated similar family. But erstwhile I came to Jacksonville, it was different,” Vernon said.

Vernon said helium repeatedly endured verbal harassment from 3 pistillate coworkers.

“Slurs and words would marque maine precise uncomfortable,” Vernon said. “I would study it, but thing was done astir it.”

Vernon and J. Eric Jones, his attorney, accidental reporting the acts of intersexual predisposition harassment led to retaliation by a nursing location manager who, according to a national suit against the nursing home, forced Vernon to resign and past threatened to telephone constabulary connected him erstwhile a diligent came implicit to Vernon and asked him if helium was okay.

Ad

“I was like, wherefore you would telephone police? I’m not doing immoderate harm. I was conscionable talking to a patient. And helium conscionable kept saying, ‘You request to get out. Just go. Hurry up and leave. I’m calling the police.’”

Jones says his client’s statements person been validated by coworkers who were alert of what Vernon was going through.

“Witnesses and substance messages person said helium was experiencing a horrible, harassing and intolerable enactment environment,” Jones said.

The lawyer feels his client’s lawsuit volition beryllium heard successful beforehand of a national jury, pointing to a Supreme Court ruling from past twelvemonth that recovered it was amerciable to discriminate oregon retaliate against a idiosyncratic due to the fact that of their LGBTQ status.

Frieda Saraga is the laminitis of the Jacksonville section of the PFLAG -- an enactment of members of the LGBTQ assemblage and their parents, families and allies. Saraga reviewed Vernon’s lawsuit and wanted to nonstop a connection to radical who deliberation it’s OK to demean and knock radical who are gay.

Ad

“All radical are equal. All radical are the same. We were each calved the same. It’s not a choice. It’s conscionable who they are,” Saraga said.

Life Care Centers of America released a connection that reads: ”We person precocious been made alert of a suit filed against our installation by a erstwhile associate. Due to the pending ineligible action, we cannot supply circumstantial accusation connected this matter.”

Vernon is present employed astatine different healthcare installation wherever helium says helium loves the situation and that some his coworkers and absorption person been precise respectful.

Copyright 2021 by WJXT News4Jax - All rights reserved.