Posted by
GunnyG© on Thursday, January 25, 2007 10:45:17 AM
Sutter Hill's Cardiac Program Administrative Director Debra Muhl, in late December 2005, had a lot on her plate. She had a heavy workload, the three days remaining until Christmas, and only thirty more days to spend with her family before she was to deploy to Iraq. Then her boss, Richard Gray, the cardiac program's medical director, gave her another problem.
Debra Muhl stated that DICK Gray said, "I've decided to eliminate your position. When you return from the desert, you won't have a job."
That short conversation forms the heart of a Federal lawsuit against Sutter Health that Muhl filed Tuesday in San Francisco. It states that Sutter Health violated the USERRA (Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act) by giving Muhl the axe. Debra Muhl is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve and returned in June 2006 after performing medical services in Iraq.
Sutter Health spokeswoman Karen Garner said Tuesday that Muhl's termination was based on internal economics and not on her military service. "Our Sutter Health network has granted hundreds of military leaves of absence over the last four years, and many employees have had multiple military leaves of absence," she said. "We're proud to have supported all of these employees in serving our country." (cough) BULLSQUEEZE! (cough)
Debra's attorney, David Lowe cited comments made by Muhl's boss, DICK Gray, who was frustrated with her military demands. To the point where DICK urged her to file a congressional complaint requesting a hardship discharge. (July 2003)
"I did not want to resign my commission," Muhl said. "This has been a major part of my life and what makes me who I am."
Muhl compromised, she said, by requesting a transfer to a unit with fewer deployments. But when her new orders came in, she said, Gray was visibly upset and asked, "How could this happen?" Two days later, she said, he fired her. "I was devastated," said Muhl, who said she turned to anti-anxiety medication to deal with the emotional turmoil as she performed her duties at Balad air base north of Baghdad. "I felt betrayed."
(Liberal backstabbing the troops knows no limits Debra!)
"I can stay in the Air Force until I'm 60 years of age," she said. "This is what I trained to do ... I feel that I make a difference."
Nice Guy Doc Gray

"YOU'RE
FIRED!!
http://hearts.sutterhealth.org/classes/contactus.html