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Ex-Worker Sues Moffitt As Whistleblower

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Published: October 23, 2008

TAMPA - A former employee of H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute is suing the hospital under the state's whistleblower law, saying he was wrongly dismissed after reporting an incident with hazardous waste to federal authorities.

Gregory Stewart, who lives in Pasco County, wants his job back as well as back pay, benefits and damages in excess of $15,000, according to a complaint filed with the Hillsborough County Clerk of the Circuit Court on Tuesday.

In the complaint, Stewart says he was forced to leave the environmental services team in June and not reinstated, after reporting an incident with Tom Cayce, the team's manager, to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The incident Stewart reported was that Cayce forced a woman in May to search through a bag of biologically-hazardous waste for his keys "to teach her a lesson" but had his keys in his pocket the entire time, according to the complaint. Stewart did not witness the incident but asked the woman about it after a supervisor asked Stewart to investigate a rumor about it, according to the complaint.

Cayce was terminated in late June, after a meeting between OSHA and Moffitt, the complaint says. The medical center said Cayce's employment ended July 1.

Stewart said he asked to be reinstated at Moffitt in July but was denied "because his name appears on the OSHA complaint," the court document says.

Michelle Foley, a Moffitt spokeswoman, said Wednesday that company policy prohibited her from commenting on active litigation. However, she said, "We take our rights and responsibilities seriously under the law, and do not discriminate against our employees."

Les Grove, area director of OSHA's Tampa office, said the agency received a complaint against Moffitt on June 24 that an employee was made to "dig through red bags of contaminated materials as punishment," but the complainant's name is kept anonymous.

"We never reveal the identity of the complainant," Grove said. Even so, an employer might figure out a complainant's identity if a person previously has complained to the employer, he said.

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800.

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