Takeaway: Manipulating or falsifying evidence can result in severe penalties for an employee, including dismissal of claims and sanctions.
An employee's sexual harassment claims based on forged text messages were dismissed, and the plaintiff was properly sanctioned over false testimony, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled.
The plaintiff, a registered nurse, was employed in the emergency department of the Children's Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City from 2014 to 2018. She was fired in January 2018 for violating the hospital's drug and alcohol policy.
She responded by filing a federal lawsuit alleging gender discrimination, hostile work environment, retaliation and tort claims against the hospital, her supervisor and a co-worker. She claimed that her supervisor sexually harassed her. When she objected to his conduct, he and a co-worker allegedly retaliated and caused her firing.
Montefiore moved for summary judgment on several of the plaintiff's claims related to her termination. The district court granted that motion in part. It denied summary judgment, however, as to many of the sexual harassment claims relating to her supervisor.
Montefiore moved to dismiss the plaintiff's remaining claims and sought sanctions against her and her counsel. Montefiore alleged that she forged the principal evidence for her harassment claims: a PDF file containing an image of three sexually suggestive text messages from her supervisor that referred to her...
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