The former general counsel for the South Florida Hospital District has sued the district and two of its board members, claiming they fired her in retaliation for trying to stop them from violating the law.
Kimarie Stratos claims the district’s board of commissioners wrongly fired her in September after eight years on the job. In her lawsuit, she alleges her termination happened in retaliation for repeatedly reporting Sunshine Act violations, as well as objections to releasing confidential medical information, wasting of public funds, and other actions by board members. By firing her, she alleges the district has violated the Florida Whistle Blowers Act.
“Unfortunately, these complaints did not put an end to the violations, but they did end my career,” Stratos said in a written statement on Monday.
In her lawsuit seeking more than $15,000 in monetary damages, Stratos says during her employment with the hospital district, also known as Memorial Healthcare System, two board members — Douglas Harrison and Laura Raybin Miller — subjected her to a hostile work environment and publicly humiliated her for reporting violations of the law. Along with holding the position of general counsel, Stratos had taken over the title of Chief Privacy Officer at the healthcare system.
She claims that after repeatedly trying to get Harrison to comply with Florida Sunshine law — which guarantees that the public has access to the public records of governmental bodies — “his response was to seek to physically intimidate her.” In addition to the clashes over sunshine law violations, Stratos says she refused to agree to Harrison and Miller’s request to treat them as individual clients and explained to them her client was the district.
She also says in the lawsuit she ran into pushback from Miller when she advised the board and CEO that the hospital system could not pay about $70,000 in legal fees for advice Miller sought on her own behalf.
The district says Stratos’ claims are untrue. “She is attempting to thwart her legitimate termination by illegitimately claiming to be a whistle blower under the Florida Whistle Blower Law,” said Fort Lauderdale attorney Michael Piper, who is representing Memorial and the two commissioners. In addition, he said, the commissioners cannot be sued individually. “That’s completely contrary to the law and Kim and her counsel know it.”
In July, Harrison became chairman of the board, allowing him to call special meetings. Shortly after, he set one to evaluate Stratos’ performance, which previously had been done only by the CEO. In her lawsuit, Stratos calls it a “sham inquiry and evaluation.
Over the course of the meeting, Stratos says the board members repeatedly “demeaned, screamed at, defamed, mocked and berated her” — and eventually terminated her employment. In the lawsuit Stratos says that months before her termination, Memorial’s CEO, Aurelio M. Fernandez, gave her an almost perfect review and promoted her to executive vice president.
In her written statement Monday, Stratos said, “An appointment by the Governor of Florida to this important public board position is not a license to violate the law and to bully, abuse, demean, and retaliate against those who report inappropriate and unlawful behavior.”
Piper said the board simply didn’t want Stratos there anymore. “She was an ‘at will’ employee and she doesn’t like that she was terminated, and now we see this lawsuit.”
All members of he commission are appointed by the Florida governor. Miller has held a board position with the South Broward Hospital District for the last 17 years through consecutive governmental appointments, making her the longest-standing member. Harrison was appointed to the board in 2015. He is an assistant city attorney for the city of Miami and is a former adjunct professor at Broward College. There are five other commissioners on the board.
Headquartered in Hollywood, Memorial Healthcare System has more than 13,000 employees and 266 employed physicians on staff. The system’s major hospitals include Memorial Regional Hospital, Memorial Hospital Pembroke, Memorial Hospital West, and Memorial Hospital Miramar.
cgoodman@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4661, Twitter and Instagram @cindykgoodman