Could Work-From-Home Nurse Case Manager Sue Managed Care Employer in NJ?

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Individuals who work for managed care companies helping claimants navigate the workers’ compensation system may sometimes face harassment by those same claimants. As one case shows, the legal maze such an employee must navigate when suing an employer for harassment includes filing in the right court in the right state.

A recent case involving a nurse case manager for a managed care company illustrates this challenge. The employee’s role involved acting as a liaison among injured workers, their doctors, and insurance carriers. Part of her job was attending medical appointments across New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. When not traveling, she worked from her Pennsylvania home.

The employee said she was sexually harassed when she attended two medical appointments in New Jersey with a particular claimant.  The claimant, she said, made harassing remarks and also sent her text messages commenting on her appearance and making explicit requests. She didn’t say where she was when she received the messages. 

The employee forwarded the messages to her supervisor. Her supervisor, she said, merely asked what she'd been wearing during the appointments. The company terminated her a couple months later.

The employee sued the company in a New Jersey federal court. She sued under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, alleging that the company subjected her to a sexually hostile work environment and retaliated against her for complaining about it.

The employer responded by arguing that the employee filed the case in the wrong court. It asked the court to transfer the case to Pennsylvania.

The court explained that for Title VII lawsuits, “venue” is proper in the judicial district where: 

1. The unlawful employment practice was committed; 
2. The relevant employment records are maintained; or
3. The employee would have worked but for the alleged unlawful employment practice.

Sue in one state, the court remarked, is improper when a substantial part of the challenged employment practices occurred outside the state. 

Could the nurse case manager litigate her case in New Jersey?

A. Yes. The harassment occurred in New Jersey.

B. No. There were too few connections between the alleged harassing conduct and New Jersey.

If you selected B, you agreed with the court in Prosseda v. The Windham Grp., No. 1:23-23069 (D.N.J. 01/08/25), which held that the employee’s connections to New Jersey were insufficient to establish venue.

She did not say she received any of the texts in New Jersey, the court noted. Also, she didn’t claim that any of her conversations with her supervisors occurred in New Jersey. The main alleged discriminatory and retaliatory actions occurred outside of state, the court concluded. 

“Although Plaintiff highlights her interactions with a claimant during medical appointments in New Jersey, these are but only two instances and do not constitute substantial operative acts of discrimination or retaliation,” the court wrote.

In addition, New Jersey was not the place she would have worked but for the alleged unlawful actions of her employer. Rather, she primarily worked at home.

“Although she traveled to New Jersey for medical appointments, such travel does not transform New Jersey into her primary workplace for purposes of determining venue,” the court wrote.

The court agreed with the company that New Jersey was not the correct venue. It transferred the case to a court in Pennsylvania.

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