Marissa woman claims she was fired for refusing to share gossip with supervisor

A former Memorial Hospital employee claims she was fired in retaliation for not sharing gossip at work.

Robin Ethington filed a lawsuit against Protestant Memorial Medical Center Inc. Sept. 7 in St. Clair County Circuit Court.

Ethington, who worked as a GI technician at Memorial for 12 years, says she was fired in April for not filling out timesheets correctly. Ethington claims she had been filling out her timesheets the same way for some time without complaint from her supervisor.

Ethington claims she was fired in retaliation for refusing to share gossip with her supervisor. Ethington says her supervisor demanded she tell her what other employees were saying about the supervisor's relationship with a staff physician. Ethington also says she was retaliated against for taking an emergency leave of absence without permission when her granddaughter became sick.

When told of her termination, Ethington says she filed a written appeal request to which the hospital allegedly never responded.

Ethington is seeking $50,000 for lost earnings and benefits and $50,000 for emotional distress caused by the alleged harassment.

Attorney Greg Roosevelt of Edwardsville is representing Ethington.