Fowler

BACKGROUND

Factual background Fowler is and has been employed by Cedars as a housekeeper since December 2001. As a housekeeper, Fowler is responsible for cleaning patient rooms and disposing of trash in many areas of Cedars’s medical center, including the pharmacy, offices, and restrooms. All of those locations could contain private patient information such as prescriptions, receipts, invoices, and medical bills. On or about October 16, 2009, Fowler was arrested and detained by the federal government for conspiring to commit felony health care fraud in the case of United States v. Iruke et al., case No. CR-09-01008-TJH. When Fowler was released, she verbally informed Cedars of her arrest. On October 29, 2009, Cedars placed Fowler on a paid administrative leave of absence. On November 3, 2009, while awaiting trial, Fowler met with Cedars’s employee relations manager Diane Erickson, human resources consultant Raul Navarro (Navarro), and union steward Lynn Bussey to discuss the criminal charges against her. At that meeting, Fowler confirmed that she had been arrested for medical insurance fraud. She denied committing Medicare fraud and said she may have been a victim of identity…