Eaves-Voyles v. Almost Family, Inc.

198 F. Supp. 3d 403, 2016 WL 4011270, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97704
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedJuly 27, 2016
DocketCiv. No. 1:15-CV-2421
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 198 F. Supp. 3d 403 (Eaves-Voyles v. Almost Family, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Eaves-Voyles v. Almost Family, Inc., 198 F. Supp. 3d 403, 2016 WL 4011270, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97704 (M.D. Pa. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

SYLVIA H. RAMBO, United States District Judge

In this retaliation and wrongful termination action, Plaintiff alleges that her former employer unlawfully terminated her employment for her refusal to violate Pennsylvania nursing regulations and for reporting those violations to her employer’s corporate representatives. Presently before the court is Defendant’s motion to dismiss the complaint (Doc. 17), which challenges whether Plaintiff sufficiently pleaded any cause of action. For the reasons that follow, Defendant’s motion will be granted in part and denied in part.

I. Background

A. Facts1

Plaintiff Tracey Eaves-Volves (“Plaintiff’) was employed by OMNI Home Care (“OMNI”) in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania as a Registered Nurse Clinical Manager. (Doc. 15, ¶¶ 1, 3, 8.) OMNI is owned and operated by Almost Family, Inc., a Kentucky corporation that provides home health nursing, rehabilitation, and personal care services. (Id. at ¶¶2-3.) On July 2, 2015, Plaintiff emailed her supervisor and a regional director to express concerns regarding “OMNI’s non-compliance with Pennsylvania’s healthcare regulations and her unwillingness to violate the law.” (Id. at ¶ 9.) Plaintiff believed that OMNI was accepting patients despite being unable to meet their medical needs, in violation of 28 Pa. Code § 601.31, and that accepting those patients without OMNI’s staff obtaining the proper training and certification fell below the competency requirements for home care agencies and/or home care registries, in violation of 28 Pa. Code § 611.55. (Id. at ¶¶ 10-11.) Plaintiff also expressed concern that OMNI had asked her to schedule registered nurses without the proper medical training to perform peripherally inserted central catheter procedures, and that doing so would have violated Pennsylvania law, specifically 49 Pa. Code § 21.12. (Id. at ¶¶ 13-15.) Similarly, OMNI had also asked her to staff mental health nurses to non-mental health patients, despite the nurses lacking the proper medical training and certification to fulfill the needs of those patients. (Id. at ¶ 16.) Plaintiff was further concerned that, had she complied with OMNI’s instructions, she would have personally violated Pennsylvania’s Standards of Nursing Conduct. (Id. at ¶ 19 (citing 49 Pa. Code § 21.18).) Upon sending her email, Plaintiff intended that “her concerns would be reported in accordance with state and federal reporting requirements.” (Id. at ¶ 12.)

[406]*406After failing to promptly receive a response to her email, Plaintiff telephoned Almost Family’s corporate compliance office to convey her concerns, and the director of corporate compliance informed her that her concerns were justified and that her supervisor would be tasked with ensuring OMNI’s future compliance with Pennsylvania law. (Id. at ¶¶ 18-19.) The following day, Plaintiffs supervisor indefinitely suspended Plaintiff from her employment, (id. at ¶ 20), and on July 15, 2015, Plaintiff was terminated and offered a separation agreement with severance pay, which Plaintiff rejected (id. at ¶ 21).

B. Procedural History

Plaintiff initiated this action by filing a complaint on December 16, 2015 (Doc. 1), followed by an amended complaint on March 4, 2016 (Doc. 15). In her amended complaint, Plaintiff asserts that Almost Family d/b/a OMNI (“Defendant”) violated both the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act (“PSQIA”), 42 U.S.C. § 299b-22(e), and the Pennsylvania Whis-tleblower Law, 43 P.S. § 1423, by terminating her in retaliation for making a good faith report of serious wrongdoing to Defendant’s representatives. (Doe. 15, Counts I & III.) Plaintiff also asserts that Defendant violated Pennsylvania public policy by wrongfully discharging her in retaliation for her refusal to engage in conduct prohibited by law. (Id. at Count II.)

In response to the amended complaint, Defendant filed the instant motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim on March 18, 2016 (Doc. 17), followed by a brief in support on April 1, 2016 (Doc. 20). On April 18, 2016, Plaintiff filed her brief in opposition (Doc. 21), and Defendant replied on May 2, 2016 (Doc. 22). Thus, the motion has been fully briefed and is ripe for disposition.

II. Legal Standard

Defendant moves to dismiss Plaintiffs complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). For purposes of a motion to dismiss, Rule 12(b)(6) works in conjunction with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8, which requires that a complaint set forth “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). For a complaint to survive dismissal, it “must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). The plaintiffs short and plain statement of the claim must “give the defendant fair notice of what the ... claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955 (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957)). In evaluating the sufficiency of a complaint, a court must accept all well-pleaded factual allegations as true and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the non-moving party. See Phillips v. Cty. of Allegheny, 515 F.3d 224, 234 (3d Cir.2008). “Factual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955. Further, “[a] pleading that offers ‘labels and conclusions’ or ‘a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.’ Nor does a complaint suffice if it tenders ‘naked assertion[s]’ devoid of ‘further factual enhancement.’ ” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (internal citations omitted) (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 557, 127 S.Ct. 1955). However, this “ ‘does not impose a probability requirement at the pleading stage,’ but instead ‘simply calls for enough facts to raise a reasonable expectation that discovery will reveal evidence of the neces[407]*407sary element.” W. Penn Allegheny Health Sys., Inc. v. UPMC, 627 F.3d 85, 98 (3d Cir.2010) (quoting Phillips, 515 F.3d at 234). When conducting this inquiry, the court considers “only the allegations in the complaint, exhibits attached to the complaint[,] and matters of public record.” Schmidt v. Skolas, 770 F.3d 241, 249 (3d Cir.2014) (quoting Pension Benefit Guar. Corp. v.

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198 F. Supp. 3d 403, 2016 WL 4011270, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97704, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eaves-voyles-v-almost-family-inc-pamd-2016.