Re: Optometrist's Clerk Sexually Harrassed Me via Phone-Laws

More | Report Post

On 5/04/07, rj wrote:
> I would hate to not teach the clerk a lesson of misconduct (to
avoid from ever happening again). If it is not worth pursuing, i can
also understand. This is why i wanted
> people's opinions.

RJ: I am an Optometrist, and I want you to know that if something
like this were brought to my attention and it were to be
substantiated, the employee would be fired on the spot. Not only is
this a violation of your privacy, but it is a violation of the trust
that the doctor placed in his employee, and the use of your PHI for
personal reasons may be a violation of HIPAA, which could possibly
protect the doctor from unemployment claims filed by the discharged
employee. The claim of sexual harassment would be valid if you told
the person to stop and contacted the doctor with the same
instruction but nothing was done about it.

Although the call and conversation was inappropriate (in both your
opinion and mine), some people might be flattered by the first
contact and it would therefore be just flirting and not unwelcome.

I'd still fire him if I caught wind of it....

Dr. Mike