Egan v. Tenet Health Care

193 F. Supp. 3d 73, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83154, 2016 WL 3561866
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedJune 27, 2016
DocketCivil Action No. 15-14169-FDS
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 193 F. Supp. 3d 73 (Egan v. Tenet Health Care) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Egan v. Tenet Health Care, 193 F. Supp. 3d 73, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83154, 2016 WL 3561866 (D. Mass. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ON DEFENDANTS’ MOTIONS TO DISMISS AND PLAINTIFF’S MOTIONS TO AMEND

SAYLOR, United States District Judge

This is an action alleging retaliation and wrongful constructive termination of employment. In substance, plaintiff Rachel Egan alleges that defendant Tenet Health Care d/b/a MetroWest Homecare and Hospice (“Tenet”) and defendant Lori Puccetti, her immediate supervisor at Tenet, wrongfully reduced her working hours after her return from leave taken pursuant, to the Family and Medical Leave Act, and then retaliated against her for reporting unsafe conditions.

Tenet, in separate motions, has moved to dismiss the complaint for insufficient service of process and lack of personal jurisdiction. Puccetti has also moved to dismiss the claims against her under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(c). Plaintiff has filed two motions for leave to amend the complaint. For the following reasons, Tenet’s motion to dismiss the complaint for insufficient service of process will be granted; Puccet-ti’s motion for judgment on the pleadings will be granted; and plaintiffs motion for leave to add new corporate entities as dé-fendants will be granted. The remaining motions will be denied.

I. Background

A. Factual Background

Rachel Egan is a registered nurse. (Compl. ¶ 1). Egan alleges that • Tenet Health Care does business in Massachusetts as “MetroWest HomeCare and Hospice,” a healthcare provider with a principal place of business in Marlborough, Massachusetts. (Id. ¶2).1 Lori Puccetti was plaintiffs immediate supervisor at MetroWest. (Id. ¶ 21).

In May 2014, after working at MetroW-est for ten years, Egan took medical leave pursuant to the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993, 29 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq. (Id. ¶ 7). Before taking leave, Egan was working “not less than 40 hours per week.” (Id. ¶ 9). She returned from leave in September 2014. (Id. ¶ 10). The complaint alleges that Egan was informed on her return that “there was uncertainty regarding the position she would be working in and uncertainty regarding the number of hours” she would be allowed to work. (Id.). The complaint is unclear as to whether her hours were reduced at that time, but does allege that MetroWest “made some adjustments” to her shift duties and pay. (Id. ¶ 13).

[78]*78The complaint also describes a series of incidents that appear to be unrelated to Egan’s FMLA leave. On January 11, 2015, Egan received a request to remove a “PIC” line from a patient. (Id. ¶ 18). When she attempted to review the.relevant policies and procedures, she discovered that MetroWest did not have any such policies in place or available to the staff. (Id. ¶ 19). Other nurses “communicated directly to Ms. Egan that they were not comfortable taking this step to remove the PIC line, as it would be unsafe for the patient and there appeared to be no policy in place for doing so.” (Id. ¶ 20). Egan notified ■ her supervisor, Lori Puecetti, of her concerns. (Id. ¶ 21). When Puecetti did not respond, Egan contacted Puccetti’s boss, Wayne Reagan. (Id. ¶ 22).

Egan also prepared a “nursing note” regarding the incident. (Id. ¶ 23). “Thereafter, Ms. Puecetti ... opened the computer system for nursing notes and changed Ms. Egan’s nursing note, and [Puecetti] removed her own last name” from the note. (Id. ¶ 24),

Egan filed an incident report with Me-troWest concerning the PIC line incident. (Id. ¶ 25). The complaint alleges that Me-troWest retaliated against Egan by cutting her'hours and reducing staff at the clinic, “creating unsafe conditions and practices for patients and staff.” (Id. ¶ 26),

Egan then filed a pro se complaint of discrimination against MetroWest with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination on July 22, 2015. (Id. ¶ 32). The complaint does not specify what allegations she made in her MCAD complaint.

On August 17, 2015, Puecetti advised Egan that “the clinic would only be staffed over the coming weekend without sufficient staff, leaving Ms. Egan to work with a reduction of staff by two full-time persons.” (Id. ¶ 28). Egan “immediately sought further information/clarification.” (Id. ,¶ 29). Neither MetroWest nor Puecetti responded, however, and both “failed to communicate in any kind of timely manner (contrary to prior history and practices regarding communication between and among Ms. Egan and her supervisors.” (Id.). Acting through counsel, Egan advised MetroWest that “she could not work at an understaffed facility, as the same would place patients at risk in exigent circumstances,” and would place her own nursing’license at risk. (Id. ¶ 33). MetroW-est “refused to communicate with Ms. Egan ... regarding any kinds of remediation in staffing” to address Egan’s concern. (Id. ¶ 34). Egan asserts that defendants’ choice “not to communicate whatsoever at that time ... forced her to be constructively terminated.” (Id. ¶ 35).

The- complaint alleges that Egan was forced to file a second incident report in September 2015, after Puecetti again changed one of her nursing notes. (Id. ¶ 39). The complaint does not contain any specific details or further description of either the note or the changes allegedly made by Puecetti.

B. Procedural Background

On November 10, 2015, Egan filed a seven-count complaint against defendants Tenet Health Care and Lori Puecetti in Massachusetts Superior Court. The complaint asserts claims for breach of the Massachusetts Wage Payment Act, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 149, §§ 148, 150 (Count One); retaliation for asserting rights under the Wage Payment Act (Count Two); “Family Medical Leave Act Violation and Retaliation” (Count Three); violation of the Massachusetts Healthcare Whistleblower Statute, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 149, § 187 (Count Four); breach of contract (Count Five); promissory estoppel (Count Six); and intentional interference with advantageous business relations (Count Seven).

[79]*79Defendants removed the case to federal court on December 17, 2015. On February 22, 2016, Tenet moved to dismiss for insufficient service of process under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(5). On March 1, 2016, Puccetti moved to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). On March 16, 2016, Tenet filed a second motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(2). .

Plaintiff has moved to amend to amend the complaint or, alternatively, for jurisdictional discovery “[i]f the Court is inclined to grant any of the defendants’ motions to dismiss.” (D.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
193 F. Supp. 3d 73, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83154, 2016 WL 3561866, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/egan-v-tenet-health-care-mad-2016.