Another jail employee files a lawsuit (DOCUMENT)

MAHAR

Another employee at the Rensselaer County jail has filed a federal lawsuit against Sheriff Jack Mahar.

Senior Accountant David Snyder, a 20-year employee, claims Mahar or those working at his direction violated his right to privacy by accessing his medical records in 2007.

According to the lawsuit filed in federal court earlier this month, on Feb. 26 Snyder was not feeling well and visited the jail nurse who told him his blood pressure had skyrocketed and he should go to the hospital. After a visit to Samaritan, he missed one or two days of work.

Last year, Snyder along with nearly 50 other jail employees, received a letter from Samaritan telling him his medical records had been accessed by someone at the jail. The hospital had given the jail access to records to facilitate the continuity of care given to inmates by the hospital.

The account and password were given to nurse Debra Young, who has since resigned her 13-year post at the jail. However, the lawsuit claims she either left the password taped to her computer monitor or in her desk drawer. Young, through her attorney Kevin Luibrand, say the password was readily accessible to other employees and she maintains she did nothing wrong and is cooperating with the internal investigation headed up by Mahar.

The lawsuit, filed by attorney Elmer Robert Keach, claims that in 2004, also claims Sheriff Jack Mahar instituted a new sick time policy to cut back on abuse. There were some employees, according to the suit, who Mahar suspected of abusing sick time and were denied time off absent a doctor’s note.

“To facilitate this policy, Sheriff Mahar personally accessed and/or directed, other employees at the Renssealer County Sheriff’s Department, including Defendant Young, to improperly access personal and medical information of multiple employees who were absent from work, were harmed from work, or were filing worker’s compensation claims,” according to the lawsuit. “This is evident by the fact Sheriff Mahar personally handled all claims for sick leave or other injury related benefits.”

   The latest lawsuit is one of a handful accusing Rensselaer County and Mahar of violating federal privacy laws - under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act - by improperly accessing confidential medical records. One was filed by the parents of a 9-year-old girl who claims she was injured by the K-9 owned by a corrections officer who was a neighbor.

None of the suits specify a dollar amount, but do ask for a jury to award punitive damages.

 

Snyder Complaint