Judge finds nursing home worker was fired for being honest with inspectors

Two Iowa nursing home workers were among Iowans who were fired recently and sought jobless benefits. (Photo via Getty Images))

An Iowa nursing home worker was fired recently amid allegations that he was too honest with inspectors. In a separate case, a worker was fired after being accused of instructing a co-worker to lie to state inspectors.

According to state records, University Park Nursing and Rehabilitation fired Jason King as the facility’s full-time maintenance director in May, after he had worked there for one year.

After a recent hearing on King’s application for unemployment benefits, Administrative Law Judge Duane Golden concluded King’s dismissal stemmed from an April inspection of University Park that was conducted “by an outside agency.” Golden did not elaborate on the nature of the inspection or the agency.

“During that inspection,” Golden stated in his ruling, King “was asked about issues that needed further action. (He) told the inspector that there were items that had not been repaired by the employer since the last inspection took place.”

Several days later, the home notified King that he was “not a good fit” for the company and his employment was terminated effective immediately, Golden found. King, the judge ruled, “was honest when questioned by an inspector during an inspection by an outside entity. He provided information that the employer did not want divulged.”

Golden awarded King unemployment benefits.

Golden also presided over a recent hearing in a separate, unrelated unemployment case involving an inspection at the Aspire of Washington care facility.

According to state records, the home fired its maintenance director, Angel Hernandez, in early April after concluding he was not “a good fit” for the company. Hernandez applied for unemployment benefits, which led to a hearing on the matter.

In his ruling in the Hernandez case, Golden stated that when Aspire of Washington was inspected by “a state agency” in March, the inspectors found several items in need of repair. “The employees at the facility felt pressured and stressed out as the inspection was underway,” Golden stated. “A co-worker accused (Hernandez) of telling her to provide false information to the inspector,” which was an allegation Hernandez denied.

Golden ruled Hernandez was entitled to unemployment benefits, stating that his alleged misconduct “was merely an isolated incident of poor judgment.” He noted that Aspire of Washington had not previously warned him that such conduct could lead to termination.

More unemployment cases

Other Iowans whose unemployment claims recently went before a judge include:

— Brad Welte , who was fired in May from the Lawton Bronson Community School District in Woodbury County, where he worked as a school bus driver. Superintendent Chad Shook testified at a recent unemployment hearing that he watched video of a May 16 incident on a school bus in which students were not wearing seatbelts and were standing up, switching seats and crawling under the seats while the bus was moving.

Welte allegedly became angry with one student in particular and told the student he was going to “bust your f—ing face” if he did not shut up. Based on the video, Welte was also accused of calling a student a “dumbass” and an “idiot,” and of leaving the driver’s seat while the bus was running. Welte allegedly approached a student and twice punched the window in front of the student, calling him a “little s—.”

After viewing the video, Shook fired Welte, later testifying that Welte had several disciplinary issues in the past related to his failure to write up students when they misbehaved. Shook testified that Welte’s actions on May 16 were “so severe that there was no way to morally or ethically put him behind the wheel again.”

Welte was denied unemployment benefits and ordered to repay $2,604 already collected.

— Angela Stigers , who worked as a registered nurse for the University of Iowa Health Network Rehabilitation Hospital from September 2021 until she was fired in May of this year. On Feb. 29, 2024, the hospital had placed Stigers on 90 days of disciplinary probation for “making dry-humping motions” at work, calling a former employee a sexual assaulter and a sexual pedophile predator, and for attendance issues. She subsequently violated company policies when she picked up a syringe and squirted a colleague with saline solution. Stigers was denied unemployment benefits.

— Crystal Breed , who resigned in March from her job as a finance manager for Hegg Memorial Health Center in Rock Valley. Breed had accused the hospital’s chief financial officer, William Slater, of sexual harassment, alleging he repeatedly complimented her physical appearance, asked her whether she wanted the code to enter his apartment, told her he stocked the apartment with her preferred wine, frequently asked Hegg and her husband out for meals, and carried a firearm to work at all times.

The hospital investigated Breed’s claims and allegedly issued Slater a disciplinary warning while finding that his conduct did not rise to the level of harassment.

Administrative Law Judge Alexis Rowe recently awarded Breed unemployment benefits, ruling that “she was subjected to conduct that rose the level of an intolerable work environment over the course of two years … It seems that the employer hoped (she) would have a change of heart over time, instead of making meaningful changes to the work environment.”

When contacted by the Iowa Capital Dispatch on Wednesday, Slater declined to comment on the ruling or on Breed’s allegations, saying, “I can’t discuss it at all.”

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