A registered nurse assigned to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope is suing the North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA) for keeping her off the job for six years.

Corrine Cross’s lawsuit will come up for hearing on May 18, before Justice Nadia Kangaloo who, earlier this month, granted her permission to file a claim for judicial review.

Cross is challenging the NCRHA’s failure, or refusal, to allow her to resume duties as an RN at the NCRHA.

She is also seeking compensation for the salary she ought to have received after she was certified as fit to work from September 2018 to the present, loss of earnings, promotional prospects and career advancement opportunities as well as damages.

Her lawsuit says she had a stroke in May 2016, and received half her salary for June and July 2016. She got her full salary for May 2016, after submitting her sick leave certificates. Since then, she has not received a salary despite still being employed with the authority.

Cross was allegedly cleared to resume duties by doctors at the San Fernando General Hospital where she was treated when she got the stroke.

Her lawsuit said although she was declared fit to work on light duties, the NCRHA insisted she must be examined by a doctor at the authority and she got a medical assessment done in October 2017.

She was not told why the NCRHA refused to accept the decision of the San Fernando doctors.

The lawsuit says, she did not receive the results from the NCRHA medical assessment nor was she allowed to resume work. It also alleged that in October 2018, she was told she would have to be reassessed.

While waiting for the reassessment to take place, Cross returned to the San Fernando hospital for another medical and fit for work certificate. She submitted the results and the certificate which were again rejected.

She was again medically assessed by the NCRHA’s doctor as well as its neurologist and given fit to work certificates by both physicians. However, her lawsuit contends she is still not being allowed to resume duties.

After trying to get answers for over four years, she was then told she had to be medically assessed again as well as do a psychiatric assessment which, her lawsuit said, she did and again certified fit to work. This was in October 2021.

Her lawsuit said in February 2022, she was told to resume duties but was not paid for four months. It said, in June 2022, she was called to a meeting and given a letter that she absented herself from duty since May 2016, and failed to present medical certificates or reports. Cross was told an investigation would be held and she was suspended.

After her attorneys presented the various medical and psychiatric reports and fit to work certificates to the authority, she was not allowed to resume duties and instructed her attorneys, led by Martin George, to pursue legal action against the NCRHA.