Eight years ago, Daniel Ridge launched a legal battle against his former employer for saying goodbye to his work in a Morue Morue County at the same time fighting his own health demons.
The 49 -year -old won an impressive victory last month when a jury from the Superior County Court of Alameda granted him $ 2.4 million in a lawsuit for unfair termination against his former employer, Alameda Health System.
But Ridge was not in court when the verdict entered. As the case advanced, his mental health had deteriorated, so much that it was not suitable for testifying and all the senses fell to the homeless, turning from his family, including his 10 -year -old son.
His lawyers do not know Ridge people and are not sure if they can find it among the thousands of homeless people living in the shelters and streets of Oakland.
“There are so many evil and discouraged people who live in large pockets,” said Lawrance A. Bohm, Ridge’s lawyer. “Finding it will require tremendous effort.”
Donald Whitehead, executive director of the National Coalition for homeless, echoed that feeling, adding that there are limitations to what information shelters can be provided.
“I’ve seen people looking for loved ones many times,” he said. “But there are protections for people and their identity, so it is a challenge when people enter the system.”
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The little is known about Ridge in a news statement published by the Bohm Law Group, the firm that handled the demand against Alameda Health System, which operates five hospitals and four well -being centers with 800 beds and 1,000 doctors, website.
Property records show that Ridge resided in southern California or northern California duration of the eighties and ninety years, a turbulent moment in which the use of narcotics and gang violence increased sharply in the state, especially as the
From 1960 to 1980, the annual crime rate of the State increased from 236 to 888 violent crimes per 100,000 residents. In the early 1980s, crime rates had decreased, but returned to a peak or 1,115 per 100,000 residents in 1992, according to the California Public Policy InstituteA group of non -professional and non -partisan experts.
Ridge was one of the many Californians affected by this wave of crimes. He lost six of his closest friends due to gang -related violence, according to the declaration of the Law Group.
When he was 20 years old, his uncle was killed in front of him by a co -worker who set on fire with a Molotov cocktail. Two or his cousins committed suicide to this, said the statement.
“The terrible life of Mr. Ridge left it with PREPT that was not diagnosed or not treated for decades as [he] He lacked resources to deal with his condition, “the firm wrote.
Despite the difficulties, Ridge became a certified nursing assistant and found a job as part -time Morue assistant at Highland Hospital in Oakland, one of the five hospitals administered by Alameda Health System.
Ridge was hired by that hospital in June 2006 and for years he received positive comments in his evaluations. But things began to change at the end of 2013 when the then full -time assistant of Morgan Tok an absence permit, Angelly retired at the end of 2014, according to his demand for unfair ending.
Judicial documents show that Morue’s responsibilities full -time at the hospital fell to Ridge, forcing him to work seven days a week while receiving only part -time salary, a condition that continues for approximately one year.
“This meant that, among other things, Mr. Ridge received no benefit for employees, including health insurance,” said demand.
Ridge claimed that he raised the problem about his long hours and part -time payment several times with hospital leaders, even at the end of the summer of 2014, just before the birth of his son in October.
Shortly after, the demand alleges, the hospital announced an opening for a full -time Morue assistant position. It was required that Ridge requested and interviewed for the position, which were obtained at some point in December or January 2015.
But his salary was the only problem that Ridge had raised with the hospital leaders at the hospital daring his two years working full.
The Alegre who was forced to use a landline and go to the hospital library in a different flower when he needed to investigate medical conditions related to Morganue’s bodies, unlike other employees.
Hello, he also raised health and safety groups when Alameda Health System changed the way Highland Hospital ordered or formaldehyde.
He complained, according to the lawsuit, that the new process made him feel dizzy and caused lack of breath, as well as a blurred vision. He repeatedly requested respiratory teams, but did not receive any for about 17 months.
Ridge also claimed that he had raised Conerns about sanitation problems and the handling of bodies in the hospital. He said that sometimes bodies were left on the stretchers in the halls outside the Morue covered with nothing more than a sheet.
“The spill and escape of bodily fluids of the corpses were not only due to the lack of bags for the body, but also to the fact that the bodies would occasionally be delivered to the morgan with intravenous tubes that are still binding and with leds on the beginning and the Eaces and others and others and others and the throats,” the demand said.
Ridge Tok on yourself to keep Morgan’s area clean and the halls after noticing fluids on the floor for days, often having to work with decomposition corpses only feet from your work station.
The Law Bohm group said in his statement that the “assembly stress caused by the greatest workload, lack of support and poorly managed corpses were requested to trigger the Non -diagnosed PREPT of Ridge.”
In September 2015, Ridge was diagnosed with some form of PTSD and depression and was put on a medical license until October 4. After returning to work four days later, he suffered a panic attack.
On October 13, Ridge visited his psychiatrist again who gave him a note to be out of work for six days. Duration at that time, he had a conversation with the reading management coordinator for Alameda Health System, who told him that he was eligible to take unpaid license and protected by work under the family and medical license law, or FMLA, and that he would need to complete the forms for November. 4, in accordance with the demand.
On October 16, Ridge’s psychiatrist extended his work free time until the end of the months, according to the demand.
But when Ridge returned to work on November 1 with his FMLA paperwork in his hand, it was tolerant that his employment had finished his leg and was escorted by two agents of the law, which led him to present an unfair termination demand against his former employer. Mercury News was the first to inform about the story.
Bohm said his client was fine until the pandemic hit in 2020. He said that the client’s mental health worsened, before Ridge fell into the lack of housing and separated from his family.
On March 25, a jury discovered that Alameda Health System had erroneously ended Ridge while he was on a medical license, granting him $ 2 million for past and future emotional anguish and $ 455000 for past losses or profits.
In a statement, Alameda Health System said he takes the mental and physical health of his employees seriously, but also disagreed with the jury’s verdict, suggesting that he planned to appeal the ruling.
“After an exhaustive investigation, AHS determined that Mr. Ridge’s accusations were not backed by the facts and that Ahs acted properly and consistently with all laws and regulations,” reads the statement. “However, Ahs does not agree with the jury’s verdict and believes that, when the Court of Appeals is reviewed, the parts of the jury verdict that favor the plaintiff are not backed by the evidence.”
Bohm was surprised by the Alameda health system response. He said the case was so obvious that he won it without his client testifying in the Court.
“They probably spent about $ 2 or $ 3 million in their lawyers, trying to fight a case that we offered to liquidate $ 500,000 in 2018,” he said. “Pennies for settlement, pounds for defense.”
