Employee Peer Review and Related Questions

An employee has been unfairly fired by a company in Louisiana. Considering this how should one prepare for a peer review?
The best thing one can do is to provide complete facts and proof as a counter for every claim and not give one’s views or accusations. Louisiana is an at-will employment state where an employer may fire an employee at any point of time without any reason. However, one should not be fired due to discrimination based on age, race, sex, disability or in breach of the employment agreement. One may need to prove that there was no good cause for termination if one needs to claim unemployment benefits because of termination despite peer review.

An employee is 59 years of age and is having poor health. This employee was terminated unfairly and this was proved as per the peer review. Despite this the terms of reinstatement were unfair. What action should this employee take at arbitration?
One may need to hire the services of an employment lawyer as arbitration is a formal process and this involves the rules of evidence. Like in a trial, one would need to submit the initial statement of facts based on which a claim has been filed. Upon submitting the statement of facts, the case would need to be presented by giving proof of wrongful termination. If one has not handled litigation cases previously or has no background of litigation, then it would be tough to represent the case. Hence, hiring the services of an employment lawyer would be useful.

Provide details of the non-professional peer review guidelines in North Carolina. If there is no employment agreement, would it be possible to make this a condition of employment?
An at-will employee would not have any written employment contract and the employment guidelines are set by the employer. The same guidelines are followed within the office. It would be legal for the employer to want the employee to be a part of peer review and to fire an employee who may refuse to be a part of it. The results of the review would be used for internal purpose.

A physician at a large New York City hospital has a collective bargaining agreement. The hospital management is threatening to conduct a focused peer review of the practices of this employee if he/she does not resign. The employee wants to know if he/she can get a court order to stop this. The physician is having an H-1B visa and may not be have time on hand to change jobs and also return back to his/her country.
Courts generally resist peer review challenges. Therefore, it would be better to hire the services of a lawyer and file for an injunction. This would help one to cause a delay to start the H-1B transfer. If one is not able to prove that the committee’s unfavorable action was due to one’s race, sex, religion, age, or national origin; then one may not be able to deceive the Healthcare Quality Improvement Act (HCQIA) in the federal and the state courts. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act bans employment discrimination. In the event that the staff is an independent contractor and not a hospital employee; he/she would not be covered by Title VII.

Peer reviews may be used as a tool to ensure that the work standards are met, identify deviation from standards and provide ways to better performance. Peer reviews play a pivotal role in the employee’s career and would affect one’s employment status or contract.

Related Articles - peer review, peer appraisal, nursing peer review, medical peer review, hospital peer review, employee peer review questions, peer performance review,

Email this Article to a Friend! Receive Articles like this one direct to your email box! Subscribe for free today!