Former resident in Virginia suing residency program

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While I definitely appreciate the input, as a general rule, I heavily advise other medical students to stay away from programs that have a history of terminating residents. You may have an excellent experience, and most residents do, but the potential costs far outweigh the benefits. Don't touch these programs.

Not all residents Should be physicians. Many should be fire before they become dangerous docs.

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While I definitely appreciate the input, as a general rule, I heavily advise other medical students to stay away from programs that have a history of terminating residents. You may have an excellent experience, and most residents do, but the potential costs far outweigh the benefits. Don't touch these programs.

I agree. I've outlined the various reasons why one should avoid programs like this in a previous post, even if the firings were justified.
 
Not all residents Should be physicians. Many should be fire before they become dangerous docs.

I agree that residents who do not meet a certain standard should undergo additional remediation. However, there are certain programs which somehow are able to "find the dangerous ones" year after year. Since I cannot say anything about quality of individual residents, I can only comment on the program: Avoid programs that have a history of terminating residents. Period.
 
I agree that residents who do not meet a certain standard should undergo additional remediation. However, there are certain programs which somehow are able to "find the dangerous ones" year after year. Since I cannot say anything about quality of individual residents, I can only comment on the program: Avoid programs that have a history of terminating residents. Period.

:laugh: ok pops, you keep your absolutes. I for one wold rather see a program who's willing to deal with problem residents so they don't become problem doctors. I've seen the carnage first hand of problem residents and wished people had more testicles to do what's necessary instead of having programs who prefer to appease medical students like you who'd rather avoid programs like that
 
:laugh: ok pops, you keep your absolutes. I for one wold rather see a program who's willing to deal with problem residents so they don't become problem doctors. I've seen the carnage first hand of problem residents and wished people had more testicles to do what's necessary instead of having programs who prefer to appease medical students like you who'd rather avoid programs like that

I would also hope that programs have a way to deal with problem residents so they don't become problem doctors...but not in the way this particular program dealt with its resident.

Of course as a medical student, I will avoid programs that have a history of terminating residents. Why would I do any differently? Do you suggest I ought to fill up my interview schedule and ROL with these programs instead?
 
Look carefully at the article that was posted about the MCV resident who sued her program. The judge in the case used ambiguous language. He said "that the entire faculty did not" think she should be promoted. What does that mean? That language could be read to the effect that 100% or 1% of the faculty did not think that she should be promoted. Programs that require unanimous support for promotion should be avoided. Programs that permit, in essence, an attending veto are too subjective and too risky for any resident.

Furthermore, read the article posted about this resident. After her case was dismissed, she sued the hospital attorneys and a psychologist. The inferences you should draw from this was that the program made her undergo a psychologic examination. The psychologist diagnosed her with a "condition" and then sent her report around. The attorneys got sued because when she attempted to get the sham report, they asserted privilege. The attorneys potentially abetted tortious conduct by shielding it under the guise of privilege. The psychologist did not want her conduct peer reviewed by other psychologists who would immediately smell something rotten.

Would you support a system that permits a psychologist paid by the program to sham diagnose you with a condition that supposedly prevented you from practicing medicine? A psychologist could potentially diagnose every physician with a condition and add to the weight pile of evidence used against the physician. Realize that psychologists do not have the tight institutional monopoly that physicians have. Some will engage in sham peer review for the money.

If you look at the American Society for Physicians and Surgeons website, you will realize that their is an epidemic of sham peer review. It occurs at all levels from medical school, residency and private practice. The privileges, immunity, and deference provided by statute and case law inevitably lead to potentially tortious or criminal conduct.

What MCV did to this resident was wrong and unethical. What MCV did to her is typical of what can occur to any physican at any level. You may not be aware of the many cases of boarded physicians who have had sham reviews happen to them.

The soul of our profession is being destroyed by the privileges, immunities and deferences given to physicians un-elected to positions of power. Physicians do not have significant ethical training. The potential for abuse is enormous.

Attorneys are required to study professional ethics. They even have to pass an examination on ethics to get licensed. Their positions are fraught with the potential for abuse of power. Even with this training, attorneys do engage in unethical conduct.

No compare this with our profession. We give physicians enormous discretion without any significant ethical training at least in regards to the person-person relationship. The potential for tortious and criminal conduct is significant because the physician has no idea what these concepts are. You combine this with the privileges and immunities provided by statute and case law, crafted by brilliant attorneys funded by physicians in power, and you have a recipe for disaster and injustice.

Just pray you are not on the wrong end of this injustice when you are out in the real world.
 
I'm curious how you determine which programs have terminated residents to begin with. sdn isn't exactly all inclusive database of that info.

And from what's been posted, yes, this program and the other one with dr sereno (sp?) were handled wrong.
 
I'm curious how you determine which programs have terminated residents to begin with. sdn isn't exactly all inclusive database of that info.

And from what's been posted, yes, this program and the other one with dr sereno (sp?) were handled wrong.

This is ever the question. In another thread about this, I suggested that one possible way to check this is to look at the FREIDA data, specifically in the General Information Tab on program size. While some institutions have a first year group supplemented by Prelim positions, some do not. I think it behoove an applicant to look at this information and ask the PDs before ERAS-ing, what the reasons are for a decreasing number of positions/year?

It could be innocent, but then again, maybe not.

In the old days, FREIDA carried a statistic entitled program completion rate. That figure is long gone, possibly because it allowed people to wonder if a program was less than 100% completion what the real story was. But it's gone and I doubt it will ever come back. .

So, perhaps the only way to know this is to call the program and ask them directly before eras-ing what the graduation percentages are, if the answer is less than 100%, then why did those who left not graduate, and has your program ever been sued by a resident, if so, how many?

Another possible way to find the real persona of a program is to look at their web sites and get the names of recently graduated residents, find them and call them and ask them about their experiences. Many programs put pics/names of residents up on their web sites and these sites are about a year behind. So, it might not be too hard to pick out recent grads and find 'em and ask 'em directly. This has the advantage of bypassing the "select" residents who will give glowing reviews, rather than the honest assessment.

[by the way, this also applies to physician positions after residency. I was saved from a very bad position which I was about to accept mainly due to a fluke. The senior partner was only briefly at the interview dinner and had an important engagement, so skipped out after about 5 minutes of chit-chat. I received a great offer and was about to accept it, called a friend in another state to tell him about it, learned that he worked with the guy who had left the position and before I signed anything, I should talk to him. I did, and talked to his predecessor and the contract went straight into the bucket. Place had a practice of screwing newcomers after the first year and they left within 2. My present group has never had anyone leave except for retirement, but I knew the players up front and we are happy!]

Successful outcomes in residency lawsuits are rarer than woolly mammoths on Manhattan in the 21st Century. There are a number of reasons for this, including a philosophy of "hands off" among judges because "medical staff issues are too complicated for the courts," and a legal case known as Shulman v. Washington Hospital Center. Fortunately, this attitude is slowly beginning to change, but the COTH, ACGME, CMS, are powerful and well endowed with lobbyists to keep their power. And those with much power will not relinquish it lightly.

So, better to avoid problem programs. As with "tainted" residents who had been terminated, sometimes simply because someone didn't like them, and find themselves needing a residency position which will be difficult but not impossible to get, so should those who do have a choice (graduating seniors) research and avoid those programs who have terminated residents, perhaps justifiably, but perhaps not, and how are the incoming PGY1's to know the difference?

While this tars potentially good programs with a bad brush, so do good residents get tarred by bad programs. Best advice, use whatever resources you can to figure out before rol day which are bad and DNR them. And maybe, just maybe, those programs that do have to take a hit for firing a resident before his time, will be more proactive in remediating, or more circumspect in wielding raw power against someone who they just plain don't like.
 
while people on the forums try to download resident firing as the resident being a bad resident, it is scary how much if it has NOTHING to do with him/her being a bad resident and more about politics.

seen it happen a few times all for those reasons.
 
:laugh: ok pops, you keep your absolutes. I for one wold rather see a program who's willing to deal with problem residents so they don't become problem doctors. I've seen the carnage first hand of problem residents and wished people had more testicles to do what's necessary instead of having programs who prefer to appease medical students like you who'd rather avoid programs like that

Oh I agree, but the problem with malignant programs by definition is that they promote & terminate for reasons other than the competency of a resident. I saw first-hand incompetent residents be waved-through for shocking offenses such as showing up to the hospital drunk, or being just generally incompetent (like the chief resident who wanted to give KCl to an ARF pt with creatinine 4.0 because "we always give K in our fluids") while some other very bright residents terminated or held back for the most minor infraction the PD could come up with.

Firing good residents just for kicks is bad enough, but letting through horrible incompetent docs is far worse for the future patients.
 
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I thought the ACGME survey results are confidential as in PDs do not know the individual responses from residents and just get the aggregate results.
 
Did you guys hear about this?

A former first year Internal Medicine Resident of Baton Rouge General filed a 50 page lawsuit on March 19, 2012 against the hospital, Tulane University, and eight staff members, including Program Director Floyd Roberts, Associate Program Director Venkat Banda, MD and CEO Bill Holman demanding $182 Million in compensatory and punitive damages for various violations. Among the counts included are fraud, breach of contract, forgery, negligence and violation of the whistleblower statute which protects an employee's right to object to illegal practices within the workplace. In addition to monetary compensation Dr. Amer is seeking reinstatement, punishment of program superiors responsible for his illegal termination and demands a jury trial.

In this fifty page lawsuit it is alleged that due to a series of complaints filed by Dr. Amer pointing out various ACGME violations including intimidating residents into working over the new ACGME mandated eighty hour work week, patient neglect (it is alleged a patient was not seen by the Hospital Medicine Group for five consecutive days), and reporting fraudulent information to CEO Bill Holman provided in an official hearing about a patient's time of death in order to implicate Dr. Amer and reprimand him for his criticism of the program and his superiors, Dr. Amer was terminated in retaliation for his vocality and in violations of the program's as well as ACGME's policies.

Despite policies to the contrary, Dr. Amer who has always received superior evaluations from not only attending physicians, but patients and peers as well was never put on probation nor made aware of any shortcomings. At his semiannual evaluation in December he was told by Dr.Vatsavai Raju that "everyone is impressed with your knowledge and professionalism," and that he was, "in good shape." Ironically, just one month after this evaluation and two weeks after Dr. Amer received a reply to his complaint about various concerning incidents, among them the fraud committed by the GME committee as well as the program director and associate program director, which CEO Bill Holman found "extraneous," Dr. Amer was put on administrative leave and given a notice of intent to terminate effective March 1, 2012. Despite Dr. Amer's constant pleas for just recourse, Program Director Floyd Roberts denied Dr. Amer his legal right as a resident to appeal the termination decision violating hospital as well as ACGME policy.

Through sheer determination and hard work, Dr. Amer paid his way through medical school eventually earning his medical degree from Xavier University and gaining employment at Baton Rouge General Medical Center the first time he applied to the match, a rigorous and competitive process. In support of his dream, Dr. Amer and his wife quit their stable teaching jobs in New Orleans, left their comfortable home and moved with their two young children to Baton Rouge only to see Dr. Amer's dream disintegrate unjustly at the hands of spiteful and malicious program superiors in response to Dr. Amer's loyalty to the Hippocratic Oath he took upon graduating medical school to protect and serve his patients first as well as his adherence to ACGME policy which is aimed at protecting both residents and the public from unnecessary mistakes due to resident fatigue.

The lawsuit is posted on www.batonrougegenerallawsuit.com
 
Did you guys hear about this?

A former first year Internal Medicine Resident of Baton Rouge General filed a 50 page lawsuit on March 19, 2012 against the hospital, Tulane University, and eight staff members, including Program Director Floyd Roberts, Associate Program Director Venkat Banda, MD and CEO Bill Holman demanding $182 Million in compensatory and punitive damages for various violations. Among the counts included are fraud, breach of contract, forgery, negligence and violation of the whistleblower statute which protects an employee's right to object to illegal practices within the workplace. In addition to monetary compensation Dr. Amer is seeking reinstatement, punishment of program superiors responsible for his illegal termination and demands a jury trial.

In this fifty page lawsuit it is alleged that due to a series of complaints filed by Dr. Amer pointing out various ACGME violations including intimidating residents into working over the new ACGME mandated eighty hour work week, patient neglect (it is alleged a patient was not seen by the Hospital Medicine Group for five consecutive days), and reporting fraudulent information to CEO Bill Holman provided in an official hearing about a patient's time of death in order to implicate Dr. Amer and reprimand him for his criticism of the program and his superiors, Dr. Amer was terminated in retaliation for his vocality and in violations of the program's as well as ACGME's policies.

Despite policies to the contrary, Dr. Amer who has always received superior evaluations from not only attending physicians, but patients and peers as well was never put on probation nor made aware of any shortcomings. At his semiannual evaluation in December he was told by Dr.Vatsavai Raju that "everyone is impressed with your knowledge and professionalism," and that he was, "in good shape." Ironically, just one month after this evaluation and two weeks after Dr. Amer received a reply to his complaint about various concerning incidents, among them the fraud committed by the GME committee as well as the program director and associate program director, which CEO Bill Holman found "extraneous," Dr. Amer was put on administrative leave and given a notice of intent to terminate effective March 1, 2012. Despite Dr. Amer's constant pleas for just recourse, Program Director Floyd Roberts denied Dr. Amer his legal right as a resident to appeal the termination decision violating hospital as well as ACGME policy.

Through sheer determination and hard work, Dr. Amer paid his way through medical school eventually earning his medical degree from Xavier University and gaining employment at Baton Rouge General Medical Center the first time he applied to the match, a rigorous and competitive process. In support of his dream, Dr. Amer and his wife quit their stable teaching jobs in New Orleans, left their comfortable home and moved with their two young children to Baton Rouge only to see Dr. Amer's dream disintegrate unjustly at the hands of spiteful and malicious program superiors in response to Dr. Amer's loyalty to the Hippocratic Oath he took upon graduating medical school to protect and serve his patients first as well as his adherence to ACGME policy which is aimed at protecting both residents and the public from unnecessary mistakes due to resident fatigue.

The lawsuit is posted on www.batonrougegenerallawsuit.com

2 posts both about the same thing - are YOU Dr. Amer? Please don't double post. It's a sad story for sure, but what can be done? These lawsuits don't typically amount to anything since the power differential is so great. The main thing to be learned here is to avoid Baton Rouge General Medical Center's internal medicine residency program.
 
I have nothing to do with Dr. Amer, nor Baton Rouge, nor Tulane. However, the above is basically a press release from Dr. Amer. It makes it sound like the program is horrible. It's quite possible that this is all true. It's also possible that Dr. Amer had multiple problems and was terminated for just cause. Anyone can file a lawsuit and claim anything. We know none of the facts here.

I have been in similar situations. Once an applicant, who we declined to interview, filed an EEOC discrimination complaint against my program. Claimed that, because he was of some certain ethnic descent, we didn't interview him. His "claim" made us sound terrible. Our "response" made it clear that he was not offered an interview because he 1) was an IMG from a school where we had no experience, 2) failed both Step 1 and 2 several times, and 3) had no US clinical experience. We had to rebut each of his complaints with our own data. It was a huge waste of my time.
 
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I have nothing to do with Dr. Amer, nor Baton Rouge, nor Tulane. However, the above is basically a press release from Dr. Amer. It makes it sound like the program is horrible. It's quite possible that this is all true. It's also possible that Dr. Amer had multiple problems and was terminated for just cause. Anyone can file a lawsuit and claim anything. We know none of the facts here.

I have been in similar situations. Once an applicant, who we declined to interview, filed an EEOC discrimination complaint against my program. Claimed that, because he was of some certain ethnic descent, we didn't interview him. His "claim" made us sound terrible. Our "response" made it clear that he was not offered an interview because he 1) was an IMG from a school where we had no experience, 2) failed both Step 1 and 2 several times, and 3) had no US clinical experience. We had to rebut each of his complaints with our own data. It was a huge waste of my time.

Right. We have no way of judging this claim without knowing the statistics of his program in terms of percentage of residents terminated, held back, suspended, or placed on probation over the past 5 years. If Tulane is near the national average, then it would be much easier to discount these allegations.
 
I'm curious how you determine which programs have terminated residents to begin with. sdn isn't exactly all inclusive database of that info.

And from what's been posted, yes, this program and the other one with dr sereno (sp?) were handled wrong.

I don't know about other fields, but for ob/gyn there is apgo.org. In their residency directory, among a whole slew of other questions they ask how many residents have left in the past 5 years and how many residents have been dismissed. Of programs that I'm looking at, one had 3 residents leave, 1 dismissed. Another had 5 leave and 1 dismissed. I'm not really sure how to handle this information.
 
http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2009/08/local-doctor-is-named-as-defendant-in-ci.html

FRONT ROYAL -- A Front Royal doctor has been named as a defendant in a civil suit brought by a former resident physician.

Dr. Claudine Nigro is suing Dr. Francis X. Dennehy of Front Royal for breach of contract, defamation and emotional distress, according to papers filed Aug. 3 in U.S. District Court in Harrisonburg.

The Appalachian Osteopathic Postgraduate Training Institute, Warren Memorial Hospital, Valley Health System and Virginia Commonwealth University Medical College of Virginia also are named as defendants in the suit.

The suit claims that all defendants unlawfully refused to allow Nigro to progress to the residency program's second year.

Nigro originally enrolled in the three-year residency program in March 2008 for the term of a one-year period lasting from July 1, 2008, until June 30, 2009, the document states.

The lawsuit claims that in December, Nigro reported in a survey conducted by a residency program accrediting agency that she was being asked by the physicians to work hours exceeding set limits. Nigro contends that she was subjected to a series of retaliatory actions as a result of the disclosure, including harassment and defamation, that culminated with her resignation from the program.

In February, Dennehy began admonishing Nigro's work performance and required her to be evaluated for depression, according to the documents. Nigro complied with the request, and a psychiatric evaluation showed Nigro was not suffering from any mental condition. The results of the evaluation were sent to Dennehy on March 24.

Nigro was informed on March 25 that her residency would not be renewed, according to the suit. Nigro appealed the non-renewal action and a procedural subcommittee overturned the decision.

Following the appeal, Dennehy officially placed Nigro on probation in April, stipulating that she repeat the first year of the residency program and that she undergo monthly counseling, the suit states.

Believing the defendants exhibited a pattern of conduct indicating Nigro would not be treated fairly, she resigned from the program, according to the lawsuit.

Nigro is seeking $500,000 in compensatory damages jointly from each defendant for the violation of due process, $500,000 in compensatory damages jointly from each defendant for the breach of contract claim, $500,000 in compensatory damages and $500,000 in punitive damages jointly from each defendant for the defamation claim, and $1 million total in compensatory and punitive damages jointly from each defendant for the intentional infliction of emotional distress.

It is a shame that no follow-up was done to this article by NV Daily. If it had been it would show that:

1. The resident who sued Shenandoah Valley Family Practice Residency Program RESIGNED (was NOT fired) at the end of her Intern year, rather than do the remediation that was set up for her. Per the record, she insisted she was doing very well when she was actually deficient in 5 different and important areas.
2. Her case was ENTIRELY DISMISSED by US District Court, and then DISMISSAL UPHELD by the US Court of Appeals after review (Case: Appeal No. 10-2425, June 2012, US Court of Appeals). To quote one judge, Judge Conrad: "The unavoidable fact is that the entire faculty believed that N... was not qualified to proceed to the second year of the residency."

The above facts are public record, as the case went to court (obviously).

The faculty of SVFPRP went on to receive many teaching awards in the next few years, including


2008 Va FM Teacher of the Year: Dr Andrew White.

2008 AAFP/Pfizer Teacher Development Award: Dr Joel Grant.
2009 Va. FM Teacher of the Year: Dr Thomas Ball.

2009 AAFP/Pfizer Teacher Development Award: Dr Jason Bhan.

2009 STFM Mid-Career Achievement Award: Dr J. William Kerns

2010 Va. Family Physician of the Year: Dr J. William Kerns g.) 2010 Va. FM Teacher of the Year: Dr Frank Dennehy


This is a FANTASTIC program with unique and exceptional faculty - having been a resident at SVFPRP within the past few years I can attest to their quality and their dedication. They have helped me and so many others to grow and become really good doctors, the kind I always hoped to be. Residency is a two way street - we as residents work hard and our attendings help us to learn and grow so that we can be good doctors on our own and provide good and safe patient care. It takes participation on both sides. Its too bad that one person with a grudge can smear the reputation of a truly great residency program, especially when the program has done nothing wrong and this has been proved in court.
 
You realize that by bumping a two year-old thread you actually just draw MORE attention to the lawsuit and its associated negative claims, right?

I do - I am doing this because the truth has not been stated before in these forums, and I'm tired of the ripple effect this completely factitious lawsuit has had on my program. Its like spreading rumors about a girl and every time a guy thinks about asking her out those rumors pop up and effect his decision. It is time they were addressed instead of hoping they'll be buried and forgotten about. The truth is better out in the open.
 
It is a shame that no follow-up was done to this article by NV Daily. If it had been it would show that:

1. The resident who sued Shenandoah Valley Family Practice Residency Program RESIGNED (was NOT fired) at the end of her Intern year, rather than do the remediation that was set up for her. Per the record, she insisted she was doing very well when she was actually deficient in 5 different and important areas.
2. Her case was ENTIRELY DISMISSED by US District Court, and then DISMISSAL UPHELD by the US Court of Appeals after review (Case: Appeal No. 10-2425, June 2012, US Court of Appeals). To quote one judge, Judge Conrad: "The unavoidable fact is that the entire faculty believed that N... was not qualified to proceed to the second year of the residency."

The above facts are public record, as the case went to court (obviously).

The faculty of SVFPRP went on to receive many teaching awards in the next few years, including


2008 Va FM Teacher of the Year: Dr Andrew White.

2008 AAFP/Pfizer Teacher Development Award: Dr Joel Grant.
2009 Va. FM Teacher of the Year: Dr Thomas Ball.

2009 AAFP/Pfizer Teacher Development Award: Dr Jason Bhan.

2009 STFM Mid-Career Achievement Award: Dr J. William Kerns

2010 Va. Family Physician of the Year: Dr J. William Kerns g.) 2010 Va. FM Teacher of the Year: Dr Frank Dennehy


This is a FANTASTIC program with unique and exceptional faculty - having been a resident at SVFPRP within the past few years I can attest to their quality and their dedication. They have helped me and so many others to grow and become really good doctors, the kind I always hoped to be. Residency is a two way street - we as residents work hard and our attendings help us to learn and grow so that we can be good doctors on our own and provide good and safe patient care. It takes participation on both sides. Its too bad that one person with a grudge can smear the reputation of a truly great residency program, especially when the program has done nothing wrong and this has been proved in court.

Assuming you're with the program, you just did them a great disservice.
 
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Lol. Did somebody's program not match well? We all got our top choices, right?
 
I'm interested in reading the decision, whistleblower cases are different than a typical ex resident case. I thought they had special legal protection.

Who cares that the whole faculty were on the same side? Cant be like 50/50 people lying on the stand.

If you have that temporal association with survey and evidence her anonymity was revealed its a good sell

But honestly thats a cultural gap, we learn in medical school to just give everyone perfect scores on BS surveys if required to fill one
 
I am graduating residency where the environment has been somewhat malignant. I have always completed evaluations favorably due to the possibility of consequences if I had reported the true nature of the program. However, I am considering mentioning on my final evaluation how malignant the environement has been, including a quote that was made a couple of months ago towards me. Out of the blue, an attending said, in front of my PD (they are partners) "i'd like to shoot you in the foot with an m-16." If I do this, what are the chances that I could face consequences later, such as inability to get letters of recommendation, etc.? For years, this type of behavior has occurred, but residents fear the consequences if they report.
 
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Assuming you're with the program, you just did them a great disservice.

Lol....yeah, I only read this thread bc I thought it was recent...only to realize it's only "recent" because a current resident decided to dig up the story just so they could bury it again? Uhhhhh....strong work, keep it up
 
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I hope for the sake of all residents in the country who had to and continue to lie about work hours, that justice will prevail. Residents have almost no power. We constantly are reminded that we are just harming ourselves if we are too truthful.

Although my own program has made great effort to comply with work hours, and has succeeded for the most part, we still have violations here and there, especially the 10 hours in between shift rule. Even a program like mine, that works diligently to be compliant, we are constantly reminded that reporting this violation would do us more harm than good.

I can't even imagine what it must be like at a place that makes no real effort to reform work hours.

It's very clear the hours logged needed to be changed, especially when asked "are you sure you went over your hours??"
 
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