ngleside v. Hollis

Docket: 241064

Opinion Date: December 18, 2025

Judge: Teresa M. Chafin

Areas of Law: Labor & Employment Law

A physician contracted with two medical staffing companies to provide emergency medicine services at certain hospitals. After raising concerns in late 2020 about allegedly fraudulent billing practices and the mismanagement of federal COVID-19 relief funds, the physician was told in early 2021 that her contracts would not be renewed unless she accepted a significant pay cut. In March 2021, she discovered that she was no longer scheduled for work. Attempts to seek clarification were unsuccessful, and in June 2021, she received a letter confirming her employment was considered terminated as of March 3, 2021.

She filed suit in the Henrico County Circuit Court on April 1, 2022, alleging, among other claims, a violation of the Virginia Whistleblower Protection Act (VWPA) for retaliatory termination. The staffing companies demurred and then filed a plea in bar, arguing that her claim was time barred because the alleged retaliatory act occurred more than one year before she filed suit. The circuit court denied the plea in bar, and on interlocutory appeal, the Court of Appeals of Virginia affirmed. The Court of Appeals distinguished the case from Rivera v. Mantech International Corporation, reasoning that the physician was not given explicit notice of a definitive adverse employment action, and thus the statute of limitations did not begin to run in March 2021.

The Supreme Court of Virginia reviewed the case and held that under the VWPA, the statute of limitations begins to run when the employer commits a prohibited retaliatory action—not when the employee feels its full impact or receives definitive notice. The Court found that removal from the work schedule in March 2021 constituted the prohibited action. As a result, the physician’s claim, filed more than one year later, was time barred. The Supreme Court of Virginia reversed the judgment of the Court of Appeals and remanded the case.

* concerned with the principles of right and wrong behavior and the goodness or badness of human character. 2 adhering to the code of behavior that is considered right or acceptable. >n. 1 a lesson that can be derived from a story or experience. 2 (morals) standards of behavior, or principles of right and wrong.
-DERIVATIVES morally >adv.
-ORIGIN ME: from L. moralis, from mos, mor- ‘custom’, (pl.) mores ‘morals’.