VALDOSTA — A federal lawsuit by a former South Georgia Medical Center nurse claiming discrimination leading up to her firing has been settled out of court.

The case of Virginia Abbott vs. the Hospital Authority of Valdosta and Lowndes County was originally filed in December 2016; the court was notified of the settlement Jan. 14, 2019, according to court documents.

The terms of the settlement are confidential, said Ian Smith, an attorney with the law firm of Barrett and Farahany in Atlanta, representing Abbott.

While the hospital’s governing body agreed to the undisclosed settlement terms, in court documents obtained by The Valdosta Daily Times, it denied most of Abbott’s allegations. 

In 1999, Abbott was diagnosed with a seizure disorder, and in 2014, she suffered a seizure at work, according to the lawsuit, which claims she suffered discrimination afterward.

After a doctor cleared her to return to work, the lawsuit claims Abbott received hostile treatment from some other workers and was eventually forced to take unpaid leave.

She was told she could not return to her previous position in the cardiac outpatient department, and was offered alternate jobs with “a significant reduction in pay,” the lawsuit states.

In December 2014, Abbott found she had been approved for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, despite not having applied for it, the lawsuit says.

Shortly after, she was offered a spot as a nurse educator at SGMC’s Diabetes Management Center. Abbott claimed in the lawsuit she was not given a work station like the other nurse educators, eventually using an old laptop computer to create a makeshift station in a storage room.

Abbott was given less than the usual 90 days to complete orientation training, and she said when she asked what she needed to complete the training, she was cut off by a supervisor, the lawsuit claims.

On May 28, 2015, she suffered another seizure. A doctor again cleared her for work, but on June 16, she was told she was being terminated, according to the lawsuit. 

“After numerous complaints about the working conditions at the (Diabetes Management Clinic), lack of guidance and denial of basic resources, Defendant sabotaged Plaintiff’s chance of success by not allowing her to return to work, and then terminating her employment for not completing her orientation,” the lawsuit claims, further alleging that “Although Defendant purports to provide a legitimate non-discriminatory reason for the adverse action, this reason is a pre-text.”

In the lawsuit, she sued for “failure to accommodate” and retaliation under the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act.

“Defendant terminated Plaintiff’s employment, in whole or in part, because of her disability, perceived disability, or record of having a disability,” the lawsuit says.

She also sued claiming a violation of her family leave rights, saying that although she had been granted FMLA leave, “Defendant failed to allow Plaintiff to utilize the leave she was granted, thus interfering with her rights under the FMLA,” according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit sought reinstatement to her job or “front pay” in lieu of reinstatement, a declaratory statement that the hospital authority had engaged in unlawful employment practices, damages for mental and emotional suffering, punitive damages and attorney’s fees.

In its response to the lawsuit, the hospital authority repeatedly denied Abbott’s claims and said some of the claims should be barred by statutes of limitations. In its reply to the lawsuit, the hospital authority says “at times Defendant believed for health reasons that Plaintiff could not safely perform certain essential functions of her job.”

A doctor’s letter stated Abbott “may return to work and is able to perform all nursing duties with standard seizure precautions. . . and while working with patients, have another nurse present …,” according to the hospital authority’s response to the lawsuit.

Representatives for SGMC have not returned phone calls seeking comment.

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.