TALLAHASSEE -- A woman claims to have been wrongfully terminated in retaliation for being a "whistleblower."
Eryn Simpson filed a complaint on June 1 in Leon County Circuit Court against the Florida Department of Health for public whistleblower retaliation.
According to the complaint, Simpson began working for the Florida Department of Health in Orlando as a Nurse Consultant - Medical Quality Assurance Investigator on May 7, 2018. On Nov. 20, 2019, Simpson inspected a medical facility that failed its inspection and made it a Priority 1 (P1) case.
On Dec. 14, 2019, Simpson alleged it was turned into a Priority 4 case, and the case was no longer active by Dec. 20, 2019. On Jan. 7, 2020, Simpson reported a software malfunction to supervisors Jen Berry and Ronald Dilworth and was allegedly told that all forms and inspections should be done digitally, and to "hope for the best."
On Jan. 14, 2020, Simpson did an inspection on a clinic that passed, and was informed the same night that all documentation from that inspection was lost due to software malfunctions which allowed the upload to fail, the suit says. On Jan. 15, 20, and 21, other inspections done by Simpson failed to upload, leading Simpson to further report the issue to supervisors once again on Jan. 22, 2020, the suit says.
Simpson alleges that on five other occasions, the same software malfunctions occurred. Between March 24-28, Simpson was put on emergency deployment due to COVID-19. Simpson alleged that on April 1, 2020, she received an e-mail saying she was "stealing time" and on May 13, 2020 was wrongfully terminated.
Simpson seeks compensatory damages, attorneys' fees and cost of suit. Simpson is represented by Marie A. Mattox.