Former University of Oregon Counseling and Testing Center employees filed a lawsuit against UO after receiving a reprisal following their whistle-blowing of the university when a student’s therapy files were accessed, according to the Register-Guard.
Jennifer Morlok, former UCTC senior therapist, and Karen Stokes, former UCTC executive assistant, filed their lawsuit on Monday against four administrators at the U.S. District Court in Eugene.
In the suit, Stokes claims she was told to copy a student’s, known publicly as Jane Doe, medical file without revealing it had been copied. Morlok was Doe’s therapist.
Both former employees were exposed to a hostile working environment after the incident, the suit claims.
According to the lawsuit, Stokes was told her managers did not trust her following the incident, leading to her removal of her position. Morlok resigned on Oct. 31 after seeking legal and ethical guidance regarding the matter.
The lawsuit states the two former workers have endured a loss of benefits, income and added emotional distress.
The university is still working on a statement to the lawsuit, said university spokesman Tobin Klinger.
More to come.
Whistle-blower lawsuit filed against UO by two former counseling center workers
Olivia Decklar
November 9, 2015
Yesterday evening, Facebook user Jennifer Vick Cox posted a series of photos implicating University of Oregon students and the Lambda Chi Alpha chapter of a littering issue at Shasta Lake’s Slaughterhouse Island in Northern California this past weekend. “The person who took those photos isn’t at liberty to make an …
0