Good Samaritan Donor Wins Lawsuit: Kidney Donor Was Fired by Employer

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PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:      Tom Mollo                                                                                                   
                        Operations Director
                        National Kidney Registry
Telephone:  (800) 936-1627 Office
Email:               tm@kidneyregistry.org
Web Site:          www.kidneyregistry.org
 

Good Samaritan Donor Wins Lawsuit
 
Kidney Donor Was Fired by Employer for Taking Time Off to Donate a Kidney
 
 
(Babylon, NY – March 26, 2012) The National Kidney Registry and Zabell & Associates announced today the favorable resolution of a lawsuit, funded by the National Kidney Registry, in support of a Good Samaritan donor, involving unlawful discrimination and workplace retaliation. The donor initiated a chain of transplants, organized by the National Kidney Registry, by donating her kidney to a stranger on March 8th, 2011.
The employer, after initially approving the time off for the kidney donation, later reversed their position, and denied the donor’s request to utilize her accrued vacation to recover from surgery. The donor subsequently argued the reversal of the employer’s decision, and was fired.
In summarizing the situation, Diane Zocchia, Director of Donor Relations at the National Kidney Registry, and a kidney donor herself said, “It is very rare that employers are not fully supportive of kidney donors who give the gift of life by undergoing major surgery. It is important that we, as a society, protect donors and support them in every way possible.” Expanding on this, Saul Zabell, who led the litigation team said, “We are here to fight for what is right, and are pleased to see that this case has been fully resolved in favor of our client, who put her job at risk to donate her kidney to a stranger.”
 
About the National Kidney Registry
The National Kidney Registry www.kidneyregistry.org is the leader in paired exchange transplantation and has facilitated more paired exchange transplants than any other organization in the world. The National Kidney Registry is a nonprofit organization with the mission to save and improve the lives of people facing kidney failure by increasing the quality, speed, and number of living donor transplants in the world.

http://www.kidneyregistry.org/pages/p167/GoodSamDonWinsLawSuite.php