ROCKLAND, Maine — A Warren woman has sued a Nevada-based health care company claiming that it misrepresented the job she was offered.
The lawsuit on behalf of Cynthia Littlefield was filed April 17 in Knox County Superior Court against Tenet Healthcare Corp. of Reno, Nev.
Littlefield, a registered nurse, claims in the lawsuit that she was recruited for a job by Tenet at its Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, Calif. The Warren woman said she was looking to advance her career with work in wound ostomy care and was offered the position of wound and ostomy coordinator at the hospital.
She accepted the job in April 2011 but upon beginning the job realized there was no new wound care and ostomy care program at the hospital but instead the physical therapy department handled that work. She said Tenet had falsely represented the job.
Littlefield said she sold her home in Maine for $24,000 less than the market value and incurred other costs in taking the job that totaled nearly $49,000.
She left the job in January and has since returned to Maine.
The lawsuit seeks damages for her losses.
She is represented by attorney David Glasser of Camden.
A telephone message was left Wednesday afternoon with Tenet. A company spokesman said he had no comment since he had not seen the lawsuit.
Does anyone take personal responsibility in their lives anymore??? She should have traveled to Cali and saw her future place of employment 1st before selling her home and moving sight unseen. I mean come on now!
1) “was offered the position of wound and ostomy coordinator at the hospital.”
2) “there was no new wound care and ostomy care program at the hospital but
instead the physical therapy department handled that work.”
If she can prove that, she has a very strong case. Notice the mention of a “new” program. That is probably the basis of her claim that they misrepresented the job. Perhaps she was led to believe that she was being chosen to head up a new program.
Besides personal responsibility, there’s corporate responsibility.
Did she research ANY of these points prior to accepting the job and selling her home? Id say no.
You’re just making assumptions. Try assuming that the company paid airfare and lodging to interview her in person. That’s the usual practice when recruiting an RN. I’m also considering the possibility that she visited one location and was later told a new position had opened at this one.
Who’s to say the company would not continue to mislead her upon her “visit”.
Does anybody take personal responsibility anymore, and actually RTFA they are making inane remarks on anymore ?
How about corporate responsibility?
How do you know that she didn’t actually travel to visit the hospital?
That was a lousy deal. Hopefully she can recoup some of her loss.
Caveat Emptor. Follow through is good. However I have found myself in a position somewhat like this. I suffered no financial loss but probably would have not been very happy if I had taken that job.
These days most employment contracts state that if you misrepresent yourself on your application you can be terminated immediately without recourse. Unfortunately desperate jobs seekers cannot force potential employers to sign something similar. Too bad actually. In fact recent news stories have discussed the unreasonable demand made by perspective employers to view your personal social web site. Imagine that, they actually get away with this! Thank you once again GOP.
I’d have to say make the company pay 1/2 her losses and let her eat the other half herself for selling a home and moving across the country without even visiting or seeing her new workplace?
Really, If you were interview and given a great job opportunity, but they didn’t pay for a visit, and you couldn’t afford a visit, what would anyone do? Many interviews are now phone interview, or interviews over the computer. You have to trust that they are being truthful.
No, you do not trust that they are being truthful. No, you do not trust more than 2 telephone or email interviews without having a face-to-face interview.
You are not familiar with todays workforce are you? Telephone interviews and over the computer interview happen alot. It saves the companies money, rather then fly a candidate out for an in person interview.
I would rent out my home here in Maine while I rented another home in California to give it a trial run. I wouldn’t sell everything I owned.
How does this sound? “Hello, my name is Peggy (don’t forget to use heavy Russian sounding accent) and I’d like you to join our expanding company as head of soon to be created customer preference research department” While misleading, verbal contracts are not much good in court. There is no mention in this article as to written correspondence and job offers. Maybe they do exist and we the readers just are not aware of them. As an employer, I have seen people stolen away by deceptive, though legal, recruitment. I have also seen inflated resumes that are misleading and make promises of skills not really present. As a lawyer I respect told me once, anyone can sue anyone else over just about anything. It doesn’t mean you’ll win.
Would you sell your car because someone told you over the phone that they have a better one,or would you at least check it out ? A quick trip out there and she would have seen that it wasnt the exact job she thought it was.
Isn’t visionary osmosis wonderful?
This isn’t a car? Is someones career, with the job in California, If they didn’t pay for her to go out there first, and she couldn’t afford to buy a plane ticket. Then yes, I would trust a Hospital that they were giving me good information.
Doesn’t say anywhere in the article that she DIDN’T visit the facility before taking the job. It would be the wise thing to do.
What if she couldn’t afford to? In todays job market you have to do what you can to land a job. You have to have faith that employers are being truthful.
Or does it show how desperate people are for jobs in 2012?
I say good for her! If they did misrepresent the job to her she should recoup her losses. It wouldn’t be the first time an employer lied to hire someone they wanted. During the interview process for my current position I was told that upon occasion (bad weather for example) we would be allowed to work from home, only to find when I started that it was company policy that nobody (except the executives) can work from home. I realize that this is not really comparable, but it is merely an example of an employer saying whatever they want to attract an employee. It happens all the time. Its not just employees exaggerating on their resume or in an interview, it is a two way street. And as watchdog pointed out, there is currently no recourse for an employee who has been misled. I hope she wins.
Whos fault is it that she sold her home under market value..this whole story is hilarious. Gotta love the sue happy society we live in.
Really? Sue happy, she says she was lied to, the job was in California, if they didn’t’ pay for a visit, and she couldn’t afford a visits? How could she really know? Many interviews are now done over the phone, or in over the computer. This is more serious then you are believeing. What if every employer could just lie, and there be no recourse?
It boils down to personal responsibility. Period. Im not surprised many of you dont agree since personal responsibility is mostly non existent these days. Its always someones fault right? Who told her to dump her home for less than it was worth and move across country without ever seeing the facility in person? We obviously arent going to agree.
Show me anyone who can sell their house for what it’s actually worth these days.
Do you know how today’s job market works? So the employer has no responsibly to represent themselves fairly? They can just simply lie? Its not just her personal responsibility. Many people take jobs these days with out visiting there new place of employment. Employers are less willing to fly someone for an interview, and more willing to do a interview over the phone or computer.
But it’s crazy to accept a job without seeing the workplace, and without people meeting each other. It makes no sense. It is not good for either potential employee, nor employer. It just should not be done.
Are you familiar with todays workforce? Companies are searching wider then they ever have to find qualified candidates, and they are doing telephone interviews because they or the potential employee can not afford to fly them out, or just don’t want to fly them out.
That’s high and mighty of you.
It’s not hilarious but something like this could NEVER happen to someone like you.
Until it does. Sue happy? She has a right to recoup some of her loss, she had the desire to further her career and was mislead.
No. This would never happen to me because possess common sense and wouldnt sue anyone for my own ignorance.
How is being lied to ignorance?
After all,corporations are people too. Right?
Does it state in the article that she DIDN’T interview in person? Does it state in the article that she didn’t get a written job offer? I have been a nurse for twenty five years and unfortunately many of my colleagues have had similar problems with some of the healthcare corporations.
There’s so much information missing in this article that I don’t see how any of you can form an opinion – there’re too many facts that simply aren’t addressed at all.
I don’t feel too bad for her apparent lack of research prior to accepting the position. Buyer beware. Suck it up and move on.
This case will be settled before it gets to court. Selling the home $24,000.00 below market value will not fly. What you sell a property for is the market value. If it were worth much more perhaps 10 other people would have been bidding for the property. The next time a similar home is sold in her area, her former house will be used to determine the market value of that home.