termination for hippa violation

[carrie000ah]

What is the name of your state? California

Hello, My daughter was terminated this morning from her job as a residential mental health intake coordinator. She was told the reason was because of a hippa violation, but they wouldn't tell her what/where/how or any details. Of course, she was devastated and has no clue what she did to deserve this termination. I am assuming an employer doesn't have to tell the employee, but I would like to know if that is the case. She is a very caring person who would not knowing harm a bug, let alone be careless with personal information of a patient.

As I do not work in this field and know very little about hippa, I would appreciate any comments.

 

[Just Blue]

What is the name of your state? California

Hello, My daughter was terminated this morning from her job as a residential mental health intake coordinator. She was told the reason was because of a hippa violation, but they wouldn't tell her what/where/how or any details. Of course, she was devastated and has no clue what she did to deserve this termination. I am assuming an employer doesn't have to tell the employee, but I would like to know if that is the case. She is a very caring person who would not knowing harm a bug, let alone be careless with personal information of a patient.

As I do not work in this field and know very little about hippa, I would appreciate any comments.

It's HIPAA. Please have your daughter sign up and we will answer any questions she may have in regards to her situation. Thanks..

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

No, the employer is under no requirement to tell the employee even as much as they did.

She should apply for unemployment. If the employer fights the claim it is likely she will be able to find out more information.

 

[carrie000ah]

thank you. she is filing for unemployment and they did tell her to do that.

 

[Shadowbunny]

carrie000ah, I say this with all kindness: you have no idea how your daughter is at work. I'm sure she's a lovely person, but even lovely people make critical mistakes at work. You admit to not knowing much about HIPAA, so you may not realize that even verifying that someone is a client would be violation. Or leaving a client's info out where others could see it. So although you may not understand how she could "deserve" to be fired, trust me when I say it's because you don't know what kind of an employee she actually is.

 

[cbg]

You are correct; the employer has no obligation to tell her what she did.

What's more, even if it should prove that it was not a HIPAA (not HIPPA) violation at all, they can still fire her for it.