Nurse at Meck County jail claims she was sexually harassed, threatened

CHARLOTTE — A nurse working inside the Mecklenburg County jail claims she was sexually harassed, threatened, and intimidated by a captain, officers and inmates. Now, she’s suing the jail’s health care provider.

Next week, Wellpath’s contract with the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office will end for health care services. In this time of transition, a former Wellpath nurse is suing, saying over a period of five months, a captain at Jail North repeatedly made sexual comments to her.

According to the lawsuit, In April 2021, she reported the captain after she said he exposed himself to her and said they would have sex soon. The lawsuit says the captain resigned after an Internal Affairs investigation, but life did not get easier for the nurse.

Court documents say she experienced retaliation, including officers disrespecting her in front of patients in the jail and not doing anything to intervene when patients made comments about assaulting her.

In one instance, she says an officer taught inmates a disrespectful song about her and had them sing it in front of her. She also says the officer told inmates he would give him a honeybun if they hugged her.

In June 2022, Wellpath transferred her to the main jail, where she was worried about her safety.

The lawsuit claims in an August 2022 HR meeting, she was told Wellpath did not have to provide two nurses during a shift and could not guarantee her safety while at work.

When she reported to work one day in August and found out she would be by herself, she told her supervisor she wouldn’t work under these conditions. The next day, she lost her job.

The sheriff’s office told Channel 9′s Joe Bruno it does not comment on lawsuits, but it is important to note it isn’t named in this one.

Wellpath hasn’t emailed Bruno back.

On May 18, the jail will switch over its health care provider from Wellpath to Vitalcore Health Strategies. The Kansas company beat out six others.

Wellpath terminated its deal in January after 16 years.

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