An investigator for a state human rights agency concluded there were reasonable grounds to believe that St. Mary’s Health System denied the request from a Mechanic Falls woman for reasonable accommodations for her disabilities, including anxiety and depression, to work as a nurse.

Julie Millett was hired to work in the St. Mary’s WorkMed program in 2011 as an on-call occupational health nurse. She resigned from that job two years later.

Her duties as a registered nurse included on-site work-environment visits to provide services of ergonomic assessment and prevention and education programs. She also provided nursing services and case management in a clinic.

Due to understaffing, she was expected to also perform the duties of medical assistant, according to an October report by Michele Dion, an investigator for the Maine Human Rights Commission.

At the end of her first year, Millett was given a favorable annual review, the report said.

But she struggled to complete her duties in a reasonable amount of time when the program was understaffed and she was also performing the duties of medical assistant. This required putting in extra hours during evenings and at home. The extra workload took a toll on her, the report said.

Millett missed one month of work in 2011, two months in 2012 and needed additional time off in 2013, all due to the “extreme stress, work overload and multiple ‘stressors’ with work and life,” the report said. That added stress made worse her disabilities, which included anxiety, depression and acute adjustment disorder.

On several occasions, Millett worked more than 40 hours per week, but was refused overtime pay by the director of the occupational health program.

In October 2012, she met with the director and a nurse practitioner to ask that she no longer be expected to perform all of the duties of a medical assistant. She said the extra work was overwhelming and she was having difficulty in the morning.

She said the job was completely different from what she had understood when hired and, therefore, would need some accommodation.

She asked whether she could adjust her hours to conform with the schedule she was given when hired, but was told she couldn’t, the report said. She was told she would not be given any accommodation.

After the meeting, the director told Millett that she was on “thin ice” and that any mistake, including tardiness, would result in her firing.

By November 2012, Millett was “physically and mentally exhausted,” the report said. Her doctor told her employer that Millett was suffering from anxiety, depression and acute adjustment disorder. She returned to work part time in December, then increased her hours in January. She was pressured to work more hours than she and her doctor had planned.

She was told that she would be expected to perform not only her duties, but also the duties of a medical assistant at any time the program was short-staffed. She was pressured to decide whether she was going to return to work full time or take a permanent part-time position.

Millett had been on reduced hours under the Family and Medical Leave Act, which was due to expire for her soon. She saw her doctor and was taken out of work again.

In February, she resigned from her job after reviewing her options for full-time, part-time or per diem work with the program. None of those options would work for her due to the expectation that she would have to perform duties as nurse and assistant.

“If she had been given a medical accommodation, which allowed her to perform the duties of the position for which she had been hired and helped out periodically with medical assistant duties as it had been represented to her upon hire, she would not have resigned her position,” the report read.

The other registered nurse in the program was a man, who was paid more than Millett, worked regular hours and wasn’t required to assume the duties of other workers, the report said.

St. Mary’s Health System responded to the complaint, taking issue with Millett’s view of the matter.

Millett’s job performance was substandard due to tardiness and inability to complete her duties in a timely manner, the report said. She was told the needs of the medical clinic came before her scheduling needs.

“There is significant overlap between a nurse and a medical assistant,” at that program and Millett couldn’t choose which duties she “should have” been required to do from those duties she was asked to accomplish, according to the investigator’s report.

Millett didn’t blame her inability to perform her workload on her disabilities, St. Mary’s said. She seemed to need more time to complete her work and wanted fewer tasks, the report said. She was offered part-time or per diem options.

St. Mary’s blocked out time on Millett’s schedule to give her time for preparation and completion of administrative tasks, the report said. When Millett told her supervisor she was overwhelmed, she blamed that on her home life or the “fact that her position was not her dream job,” St. Mary’s told the investigator.

St. Mary’s worked with Millett to help her take a leave of absence and return part  time.

The RN who was paid a higher salary had many more years of experience, St. Mary’s said. He completed his work in a timely manner and often traveled to off-site locations, something Millett didn’t do, St. Mary’s said.

As a salaried worker, Millett was exempt from overtime pay, St. Mary’s said.

Dion wrote in her report that Millett had established that she was disabled, but could perform “essential functions” of her work. She requested reasonable accommodations, Dion said.

Although Dion recommended the Maine Human Rights Commission find there are reasonable grounds to believe St. Mary’s failed to accommodate Millett’s mental/physical disabilities, she recommended against the commission finding reasonable grounds to believe Millett was discriminated against on the basis of her sex, retaliation or for her protected whistle-blower activity.

The commission will take up the case at its mid-December meeting.

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