Nursing professor claims wrongful termination in suit against BJC

A former nursing professor has filed suit against Barnes-Jewish Goldfarb School of Nursing and BJC Health Care, claiming she was wrongfully terminated.

Cathy Flasar claims she had been employed as an assistant professor of nursing and as a nurse practitioner at Barnes-Jewish Goldfarb School of Nursing for 10 years before she was terminated Aug. 1.

Flasar and the school entered into a contract of employment when she was hired in August 1998 that required the school to give a one-year advance notice of any termination of the contract, according to a complaint filed Sept. 11.

But neither the school nor BJC Health Care, which operates the school, notified Flasar one year prior to her termination, the suit states.

Flasar claims she has suffered harm and injury, damage to her good reputation, extreme mental anguish, painful embarrassment, disrupting of her personnel life, financial injury, lost benefits and lost wages due to the termination.

She is required to pay back certain tuition assistance to the school, according to the complaint.

Flasar claims the school wrongfully terminated her because it violated its own written policy.

She is seeking monetary damages to compensate her for all her salary and benefits from the time she was terminated, plus accrued interest.

She is also seeking monetary damages to compensate her for all her future lost salary and benefits, including medical insurance costs, plus attorney's fees, expert witness fees and costs with total damages of $70,000.

Greg Roosevelt of Roosevelt Law Office in Edwardsville will be representing Flasar.