The authority board chairman declined to comment on the lawyer for the fired former executive director saying he'd been harassed.
HOLYOKE -- Donald E. Wilcox was unjustly fired as executive director of the Holyoke Geriatric Authority because he filed reports about problems at the nursing home, his lawyer said Thursday.
Also, said lawyer Tara M. Swartz of Boston, Wilcox had been out on medical leave since Oct. 3 because of job-related stress and learned of his Feb. 21 firing by reading MassLive.com.
"He had a really rough time at the authority. Like I said, he maintains that the harassment and bullying he was subjected to caused him to be out on medical leave," Swartz said.
Swartz wouldn't provide specifics about cases of harassment and bullying or about the nature of the reports she said Wilcox filed about the nursing home.
Board Chairman Fred Glidden Thursday declined to comment on Swartz' remarks about Wilcox or on her saying that a wrongful termination lawsuit is likely to be filed on his behalf against the authority in Superior Court in Springfield.
Swartz' comments on behalf of Wilcox were his first public reactions since the board of directors of the authority voted unanimously to fire him.
The authority's years of financial problems led the board Monday to vote to contact the state Department of Public Health about closing the facility.
Donald E. Wilcox The authority has 80 nursing-home beds and 80 day-care slots for elderly people. It is overseen by a board consisting of three people appointed by the City Council and three appointed by the mayor, with those six choosing a seventh member.
As of Tuesday, the authority had 71 residents and 120 employees, Administrator Michael Stroetzel said.
Wilcox, who began working at the 45 Lower Westfield Road facility in 2009, filed reports presumably with state agencies about a "myriad" of "potentially unlawful and-or unethical activity," said Swartz, who nonetheless declined to provide examples.
The board voted in open session at a meeting at the facility to fire Wilcox "for cause" after a nearly three-hour executive session. Board members declined to explain what was meant by "for cause."
The board at the Feb. 21 meeting also voted to seek the return from Wilcox of an authority computer and cell phone. Swartz said she believed those items were put in the mail Thursday for return to the authority.
A state audit released in September detailed how mismanagement at the authority led to a $2.2 million debt to city agencies. The audit covers the period of Jan. 1, 2010, to June 30, 2012, and though Wilcox' title before executive director was chief operating officer, Swartz said, "All such allegations predate Mr. Wilcox' employment."