Four nurses who used to work for MCR Health, a non-profit facility in Bradenton, FL, are now out of a job, but they still don’t know why. Several former employees recently received letters of termination from the facility, but the notices didn’t list a reason for the firing. The hospital has yet to comment on how many people were fired or why, but several nurses say it could be up to 20 or more.
“Most were upper-level employees,” said Kendra Cannon, who recently worked at MCR as a charge nurse. “No one in my immediate leadership knew that this was going to happen. Most of those let go were way higher than me.”
Cannon said she still doesn’t know why she lost her job. In order to receive severance pay, she says the hospital has asked the former employees not to talk to the press. But Cannon refused to sign the severance agreement and instead filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
“I 100% feel like I was targeted and discriminated against due to favoritism and because of my ethnicity,” said Cannon, who is a black woman. “MCR refused to hear me or investigate my issue or tell me why I was fired. I understand that Florida is a right-to-work/fire state, but the way they are doing hardworking, loyal employees is definitely against the law, and their policies they pretend to uphold.”
Winnie Williams was let go after working at the facility as a registered nurse for 10 years.
“We all got called in on January 6,” Williams said. “It was like 22 of us were let go the same day. We were individually called in.”
Williams also refused to sign the letter, which didn’t list a reason for the termination.
“At the time, I was trying to put my head around it and just move on,” she said.
MCR Health refused to comment on the sudden spate of firings. “MCR has no comment on decisions regarding human resources,” the nonprofit’s attorneys said.
Its parent company owns and operates 48 healthcare centers all over the state. “Our mission is to provide all patients including the under-served and uninsured access to quality primary care and preventative health education regardless of race, sex, disability, or economic status. Last year alone MCR provided over $59 million in charity care for the uninsured,” the not-for-profit states online.
This isn’t MCR’s first foray into controversy. The not-for-profit’s former president and CEO, Patrick Carnegie, recently sued the company for breach of contract. Carnegie is demanding to be reinstated with full benefits. The board of directors voted to remove him from his role as president and CEO last November, but they failed to give a reason.
