Nurse, Firm That Fired Her After Call-Up Settle Suit

SANTA ANA — A settlement has been reached in the lawsuit of an Army National Guard nurse from Santa Ana who claimed that she was fired from her civilian job after being called to active duty during the Persian Gulf crisis.

Steven D. Stern, a spokesman for the public relations firm of Sitrick & Co. Inc., announced in a terse statement Wednesday that “an amicable agreement” had been reached between Capt. Debra M. Simpson and her former employer, Care Visions Corp. of Santa Ana.

Simpson could not be reached for comment, and neither her attorneys nor Care Visions would comment beyond the announcement.

Simpson’s lawyers on Nov. 15 filed a civil suit in Orange County Superior Court, charging that Simpson had been fired illegally by Care Visions. The company operates a Santa Ana care center for chronically ill or disabled children called Kangaroo Kids Center for Fragile Children. Simpson was the health care administrator at the facility when she was called to active duty Aug. 6 in the Army National Guard.

Simpson said she informed her superiors at the care center that she would return from active duty on Oct. 3. She said she went to work that day but was fired a few hours after she arrived. She said she was told by Julia Bell, Care Visions’ chief executive officer, that she had “abandoned” her job and therefore was being discharged.

Bell has declined to comment on the case, but a spokesman for Care Visions last week charged that Simpson was two days late in reporting back to work.

Simpson disputed that allegation, saying she gave Care Visions written notice that she would return Oct. 3. Care Visions also accused Simpson of volunteering for active duty; Simpson maintained that it was a mandatory call-up.

Maj. Bruce Roy, a spokesman for the California National Guard in Sacramento, said last week that federal law prohibits companies’ firing or demoting persons called to duty, whether or not the reservist volunteered.

One of Simpson’s lawyers, Thomas L. Brown, has said he believed that her case was the first in the nation since President Bush’s massive call-up of reserves last August.

Simpson’s lawsuit had asked for an unspecified amount of money in actual and punitive damages. She said she had been unable to find a job similar to the one from which she had been fired.