Dr. Kwiat is the owner of Amsterdam, N.Y.-based Kwiat Eye and Laser Surgery Center.
The Labor Department said the firing was illegal retaliation. It alleges that an employee expressed concerns to a supervisor for more than nine months about the practice’s lack of adherence to COVID-19 safety protocols, the report said.
According to the new lawsuit, Dr. Kwiat allegedly told the employee, and the Labor Department Inspector General’s office, that he fired her because she reported the violations. It also states that he didn’t require employees or patients to wear masks and that if patients asked him to wear one, he refused to treat them and removed them from his practice.
The lawsuit alleges that Dr. Kwiat threatened to fire employees who got tested for COVID-19, and he required employees to work when family members in their homes tested positive for COVID-19, the report said.
Dr. Kwiat responded with a statement emailed to The Daily Gazette:
“One thing the government is good at is wasting taxpayer money on meritless issues,” he said, according to the report. “[The complainant] is a troubled individual and we pray for her as well as those that cannot see the truth among lies.”
In New York’s Montgomery County, where Dr. Kwiat’s practice is located, 202 healthcare facility deaths are blamed on COVID-19, the report said.
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