accused of violating HIPAA while taking pictures to justify a work-injury sustained

by Lisa

(Los Angeles )

accused of violating HIPAA while taking pictures to justify a work-injury sustained

I worked for a medical office as a medical records clerk. I was solely responsible for filing and pulling charts for three doctors. I was never properly trained just throw out there to to the job. Within days or a week or so I was reprimanded for my job performance in which was a reflection of poor system of training and and office procedure. After my boss complained day in and out about my work flow and working day in and out coming early prior to my shit and staying late I began to develop a work injury. I verbally reported to my boss, advised her of the OSHA issue of the nasty trash can mop and pale I had to move daily to get to the charts that need to be pulled and filed. She did nothing. So in order to protect my self and justify my work injury sustained and reasons for my work flow issue, I took a picture of my work area with my cell phone which included a overload of charts in the cart. I was observed by another employer when doing this she said nothing to me. Later that day my boss called me in a meeting question if i had taken pictures. I advised her yes and began to explain to her why. This was our first conversation regarding this ever. She only stated this is a violation of HIPPA , she didn’t document it nor put me on a suspension, investigate or verbally warn me at a first level. IN the same meeting she presented me with a copy of the workers compensation pre-designated form I had earlier sent over to Human resources. At the same time she called over to human resources while I was in the office and put the HR manager on speaker to speak with me. The human resource manager explained to me that she didn’t have any of the documentation (including HIPAA) I signed during our orientation earlier. I explained to her that she should have I handed it to at the time of signing and why did she wait so long to bring this to my attention and she need to check her record and find it because I gave it to her at the time of orientation. The next day at the end of my shift I my employment was terminated stating I had violated the hIPAA policy. the company failed to follow company policy and no investigation was done prior to firing me. I believe that I was terminated for advising them of a work inure sustained and osha issues and they retaliated by firing me for an alleged HIPAA violation in which was hear say and they have no pictures to prove it nor did thy report it to the HIPAA privacy officer or last did they provide any proof that a patients information was violated or a complaint filed by a patient.

Hi Lisa,

And …. have you filed for unemployment? Were you denied unemployment?