Nurse fired after Iraq deployment sues Sutter Health

RESERVIST24_105_LH.JPG An Air Force reserve officer, Lieutenant Colonel Debra Muhl, announces a federal lawsuit against her employer, a California health facility, after she says she was fired following her second deployment to the Middle East. Photographed by Liz Hafalia less RESERVIST24_105_LH.JPG An Air Force reserve officer, Lieutenant Colonel Debra Muhl, announces a federal lawsuit against her employer, a California health facility, after she says she was fired following her ... more Photo: Liz Hafalia Photo: Liz Hafalia Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Nurse fired after Iraq deployment sues Sutter Health 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

2007-01-23 15:30:57 PST -- A military nurse who has served in combat zones for 30 years today sued her civilian employer, Sutter Health, alleging the company violated federal law by firing her after she told her supervisor she was being deployed to Iraq.

The federal lawsuit, filed in San Francisco, accuses Sutter Health of violating the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 -- USERRA -- by firing Debra Muhl, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, in June 2006.

Sutter Health spokeswoman Karen Garner said Tuesday that Muhl's termination was based on internal economics and not on her military service. She said that while Sutter regretted the timing of Muhl's termination notice -- two days after her notification of deployment -- the company followed procedures and went so far as to continue paying Muhl more than required by law during her final deployment after her termination.

"We have a strong and generous military- and-disaster-leave policy that goes above and beyond what the law requires," she said.

Muhl said she was given the same economic explanation when she was fired, but rejected it, as did her attorney, David Lowe of Rudy, Exelrod & Zieff in San Francisco.

"Colonel Muhl is an honest-to-goodness war hero," Lowe said. "She has treated thousands of wounded individuals and service members ... We felt this was an important case that required intervention by the courts."

Muhl, 56, said she worked at Sutter from 2002 to 2006, most recently as administrative director of the joint cardiac program. She was called up to active duty status several times during that period, including in March 2003 for 10 months and twice in 2005 for military training.

In her complaint, Muhl alleges that her supervisor, Richard Gray, the cardiac program's medical director, found her deployments frustrating, at one point instructing her to file a complaint with Congress seeking to get out of the military. As a compromise, Muhl said, she requested a transfer to a unit with fewer deployments.

Nevertheless, in late December 2005, she learned she would be going back to Iraq for several months. Gray was visibly angry by the news, Muhl said, and two days later called her into his office.

"You had news for me on Tuesday, now I have news for you," Muhl recalled Gray saying. "You will not have a job when you return from the desert."