Iowa Workforce Development manages unemployment claims filed on behalf of Iowans. (Photo by Getty Images, logo courtesy the State of Iowa)
An Iowa woman was recently fired from a group home for brain-injured individuals after being accused of sleeping on the job and falsifying patient records.
State records indicate Patricia Cherkas worked as a life skills trainer for Neurorestorative Iowa, a company that operates group homes for people with brain injuries, from May 2023 through August of this year. Cherkas was fired after an investigation into an employee’s allegation that workers in the home were falsifying patient records.
Specifically, Cherkas was accused of falsifying records that pertained to a patient who needed to be repositioned, or turned, every hour to avoid painful and potentially dangerous pressure sores.
As part of its investigation into the allegations, Neurorestorative Iowa reviewed video that was shot by cameras during the overnight shift of Aug. 8, 2024, inside the group home’s living room area and in the hallway outside client rooms.
The footage allegedly shows Cherkas lying on a couch in the group home’s living room, appearing to be asleep, for three to four hours. The client’s file, however, allegedly indicated Cherkas rotated the client at least twice during the hours she was captured on video lying on the couch.
According to Neurorestorative Iowa, when confronted with the video and the records, Cherkas denied falsifying records or sleeping on the job. The client in question had developed a pressure sore that was healing, and the home concluded that Cherkas’ failure to reposition the individual had impeded the healing process.
State unemployment records indicate Neurorestorative Iowa fired Cherkas and an unspecified number of other workers for falsifying clients’ records and sleeping on the job.
Cherkas was subsequently awarded unemployment benefits, but an appeal of that decision led to a hearing before Administrative Law Judge Carly Smith who recently ruled Cherkas was ineligible for benefits.
“The employer has met its burden of proof establishing that (Cherkas) was sleeping on the job and falsified documents of a client that was in their care due to sustaining a brain injury,” Smith stated in her ruling.
Cherkas was ordered to repay $2,185 in benefits already collected.
Other Iowans’ unemployment claims
Other Iowans whose unemployment claims recently went before a judge include:
— Samantha Lammers, who worked for Delaware County Memorial Hospital as a full-time urgent care certified medical assistant whose duties included measuring and documenting patients’ vital signs, such as their temperature, pulse, respiration rate and blood pressure.
On Aug. 7, 2024, a nurse practitioner allegedly informed the urgent care nursing staff that Lammers had fabricated vital signs for eight different patients the nurse practitioner had seen that day. The nurse practitioner alleged each of the affected patients had reported Lammers’ failure to take some or all of their vital signs, despite those signs being recorded in their medical file. Lammers denied any wrongdoing and indicated she hadn’t obtained vital signs for two patients due to the staff arranging other evaluation and treatment options for them.
Lammers was fired and subsequently applied for unemployment benefits. The judge in the cases ruled in Lammers’ favor and awarded her benefits, noting that the hospital had elected not to present testimony or written statements from any of the affected patients to substantiate a claim of workplace misconduct.
— Erin Brookshire, who worked for the Fort Dodge Community School District from 2017 through August of this year, most recently as director of the Dodger Academy after-school program and coordinator of the Academic Behavior Collaboration.
She was fired in August for misuse of the district’s credit card while on a work-related trip to San Francisco, where she dined at a restaurant with her mother and then used the card to pay for her own meal, her mother’s meal and alcohol, according to state records. Upon her return to Iowa, Brookshire informed the district of the unauthorized charges and indicated she would be reimbursing the district in accordance with accepted past practice.
The district fired Brookshire, but she was subsequently awarded jobless benefits, with the judge in the case noting her actions had been consistent with past practice and that the district had disciplined her three times for the restaurant expense — first by freezing her requisition abilities, then by suspending her use of her credit card, and then by firing her.
— Mark Uthe, who worked for Mount Mercy University as a custodian for 11 years until he was fired in August 2024 for alleged harassment. During his employment at the school, state records report, Uthe was allegedly given two warnings concerning inappropriate actions with students – first in 2016 after he was accused of asking students for a chest bump, and then in 2018 when he was accused of placing a piece of rope on a female student’s shoulder while asking the woman if she used it as a sex toy.
On Aug. 20, according to state records, Uthe was cleaning rooms when another custodian found a photo of a female student and gave it to Uthe. Uthe later ran into the student, showed her the photo, and asked if she would sign it for him. He was subsequently fired and denied unemployment benefits with the judge ruling that his actions would “reasonably make a young woman uncomfortable.”
— Daniel Berger, who worked for Tyson Fresh Meats until Aug. 13, 2024, when he was fired for allegedly threatening a U.S. Department of Agriculture worker. On Aug. 9, Berger was outside the Tyson plant looking into the fact that his car had been towed from a no-parking zone where he’d left it. While outside, a man who worked for the USDA, which inspects the plant for food safety, allegedly approached Berger and reminded him he was not to wear his hair net outside the building. Berger allegedly threatened the USDA official, according to state records, telling him, “I’m gonna kick your ass.” When questioned by management, Berger allegedly denied threatening the USDA worker but said he had told the man, “Don’t f— with me.” Berger was denied unemployment benefits.