Mary Coomber, a licensed registered nurse hired as a wellness nurse at Ingleside at Rock Creek in Washington, D.C., alleges that her employer — Westminster Ingleside King Farm Presbyterian Retirement Community and two subsidiaries — pressured her to be listed simultaneously as the facility's Client Service Coordinator or Director for Ingleside at Home, a position she says she was unqualified to hold and whose statutory duties she could not fulfill while also working as a wellness nurse. She alleges the purpose was to deceive D.C. regulators into believing the home support agency had a qualified, full-time coordinator in order to maintain licensure and continue receiving Medicaid reimbursements. When she refused and raised objections, she alleges, the defendants terminated her employment at a March 18, 2024 meeting — while simultaneously continuing to press her to accept the dual role.
Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland denied dismissal of the MHCWWPA retaliation claim, the D.C. wrongful-discharge claim, and the FCA retaliation claim. On the MHCWWPA count, the court rejected the defendants' argument that the statute does not cover Coomber because she performed her work in D.C. rather than Maryland. The court read the statute's plain text to prohibit Maryland employers from retaliating against health care workers who are licensed and/or practice in Maryland, without requiring that the work itself be performed in Maryland — a question on which the defendants cited no contrary case law.
On the FCA count, the court held that Coomber plausibly alleged she engaged in protected activity by lodging complaints with management between March 15 and 18, 2024, that the defendants knew of those complaints, and that her termination was motivated by them. The court acknowledged the defendants' argument that the complaint does not identify which entity receives Medicare or Medicaid funding, but held that the amended complaint contains sufficient facts explaining why Coomber believed all three defendants receive such funding and why the proposed arrangement would have resulted in false claims submissions.
The court did dismiss the FMLA and D.C. Family Medical Leave Act interference and retaliation counts. Coomber began employment on March 15, 2023, and requested leave beginning March 14, 2024 — one day before she would have completed the twelve months of employment required for FMLA eligibility. The court also held that the amended complaint lacks facts showing the defendants actually denied her leave request, and that the complaint's own allegations undercut the causal-connection element of the retaliation claim: Coomber alleged she was terminated during a meeting focused on her refusal to serve as the CSCD, not because of her leave request.
The court also declined to drop Ingleside at Home as a defendant, holding that Coomber's allegations that all three entities jointly controlled her job duties, wages, and termination are sufficient at the pleading stage to state claims against IAH.
The case is Civil Action No. 25-cv-00082-LKG in the District of Maryland.