CULLMAN, Ala. – Cullman Regional Medical Center’s chief financial officer described approximately 29 employment decisions expected to save the hospital more than $2.5 million in a staffing plan developed during 2023.
“In total, the Action List details approximately 29 employment decisions that would save the Hospital $2,506,651.00,” Chief Financial Officer Nesha Donaldson said in her sworn declaration.
The declaration and staffing documents were filed in former cardiology nurse Amanda McCormick’s age-discrimination lawsuit. U.S. District Judge Harold D. Mooty III granted CRMC summary judgment Aug. 14, 2026, and dismissed her complaint with prejudice.
“McCormick has failed to present sufficient circumstantial evidence,” Mooty wrote, concluding that the evidence would not allow a jury to infer intentional discrimination by the decision-makers.
Donaldson said she met March 20, 2023, with Chief Executive Officer James Clements, Lisa Courtney, then vice president of physician services, and Schinley Land, then executive director of physician services.
“During that meeting, we discussed the need to make productivity adjustments at CRMC because of increased costs and certain areas of the hospital where profitability was a concern,” Donaldson said. “We agreed that a RIF would be necessary as part of those productivity adjustments.”
RIF refers to a reduction in force. Donaldson said CRMC had also implemented workforce reductions in June and October 2022.
“In March of 2023, productivity adjustments were considered based upon factors such as increased costs of salaries, increased costs of indigent care, and recent expenditures on a new hospital wing,” CRMC stated in its written discovery answers.
“Schinley Land and Nesha Donaldson selected all persons included within the reduction in force,” the hospital stated in another discovery answer.
Donaldson said she developed an action plan and a staffing list using information from managers about changes and anticipated savings. The plan labels its staffing figure of $2.5 million “Annual Projected.”
The staffing list’s Phase 1 total is $2,506,651 and 49.85 full-time equivalents.
Its entries include vacant positions, decisions not to replace employees, reassignments and position eliminations.
One hospital productivity adjustment accounts for 26 full-time equivalents and a projected $1 million impact.
Full-time equivalents measure staffing capacity rather than the number of individual employees.
The clinic entries include two Med Day registered nurse positions marked “Termination – do not replace,” a vacant orthopedic registered nurse position to be changed to a medical assistant position and elimination of a dietitian position. McCormick’s position carries a listed salary-and-benefit impact of $68,770.
Land said her March 21, 2023, email included proposed staffing changes at nine hospital clinics.
“My plan included termination of employees in other clinics and not replacing terminated or resigned employees in clinics,” she said. “The total savings associated with those decisions was $522,812.80.”
“I received Ms. Land’s e-mail and incorporated her recommended changes into the Action List,” Donaldson said of Land’s recommendations.
The staffing list’s entry for McCormick states, “Ace Beam will do Pacemaker Clinic.”
Land said she initially considered assigning the duties to Beam, a certified registered nurse practitioner, but changed that plan.
“I ultimately determined that assignment of those duties to Mr. Beam would not be the most effective use of his skills as a CRNP,” she said. “Mr. Beam never performed any of Ms. McCormick’s former duties with the Pacemaker Clinic.”
Land said she instead assigned the duties to practice manager Glenda Pelfrey. Pelfrey said she performed the pacemaker clinic duties until approximately May 19, 2025, when CRMC hired CV Remote Solutions to perform many monitoring, reporting and billing duties.
“I retained all of my other responsibilities as Physician Practice Coordinator and none of my other duties were removed or modified to account for my new Pacemaker Clinic duties,” Pelfrey said.
Part 1 examined a separate employment decision from June 2022, before the March 2023 staffing plan. Records in Dr. Hansel Noffsinger’s age-discrimination lawsuit describe management’s involvement in the decision to terminate his employment.
Courtney said she met with Clements and Donaldson on or about June 6, 2022.
“During that meeting, we made the determination as a team that Noffsinger’s employment should be terminated,” she said. “The reasons we discussed for terminating Dr. Noffsinger boiled down to profitability and professionalism.”
Asked in his deposition whether he recalled the meeting with Courtney and Donaldson on or about June 6, Clements answered, “I do not.”
“I don’t disagree, but I don’t remember the specific meeting. I remember a discussion, but I can’t tell you when that discussion occurred,” Donaldson said when asked whether she disagreed with Courtney’s account of a joint decision. She recalled discussions about complaints, an audit and Noffsinger’s bonus structure.
Noffsinger’s attorney, Allen D. Arnold, disputes CRMC’s financial explanation and argues that it was a pretext for age discrimination. His brief compares cash payments and compensation for Noffsinger with figures for three younger physicians CRMC retained. CRMC denies age discrimination and attributes the termination to profitability and professionalism concerns.
A Sept. 25 order scheduled a hearing on CRMC’s motion for summary judgment in Noffsinger’s case for Oct. 23, 2026, at 2:30 p.m. in Courtroom V of the United States Courthouse in Huntsville. The order sets a hearing on the hospital’s request, without setting a deadline for a decision.
Source citations by paragraph
Paragraph numbering begins with “CULLMAN, Ala.” and includes each standalone quotation. The headline and byline are not counted.
McCormick documents refer to McCormick v. Cullman Regional Medical Center, case 5:24-cv-00820-HDM. Noffsinger documents refer to Noffsinger v. Cullman Regional Medical Center, case 5:24-cv-00900-HDM. Page numbers are the filed document pages unless a deposition transcript page is also specified.
Paragraph 1. “Declaration of Nesha Donaldson,” McCormick Document 25-10, p. 3.
Paragraph 2. “Declaration of Nesha Donaldson,” McCormick Document 25-10, p. 3.
Paragraph 3. “Memorandum Opinion and Order,” McCormick Document 47, pp. 17-18; “Final Judgment,” McCormick Document 48, p. 1.
Paragraph 4. “Memorandum Opinion and Order,” McCormick Document 47, p. 17.
Paragraph 5. “Declaration of Nesha Donaldson,” McCormick Document 25-10, p. 2.
Paragraph 6. “Declaration of Nesha Donaldson,” McCormick Document 25-10, p. 2.
Paragraph 7. “Declaration of Nesha Donaldson,” McCormick Document 25-10, p. 2.
Paragraph 8. CRMC’s answers to McCormick’s interrogatories, McCormick Document 32-1, p. 16.
Paragraph 9. CRMC’s answers to McCormick’s interrogatories, McCormick Document 32-1, p. 18.
Paragraph 10. “Declaration of Nesha Donaldson,” McCormick Document 25-10, p. 3; “ACTION PLAN – FY 2023 Q4,” McCormick Document 25-11, p. 1.
Paragraph 11. “Action List – March 2023,” McCormick Document 25-12, pp. 1-2.
Paragraph 12. “Action List – March 2023,” McCormick Document 25-12, p. 1.
Paragraph 13. “Declaration of Schinley Land,” McCormick Document 25-1, p. 7.
Paragraph 14. “Declaration of Schinley Land,” McCormick Document 25-1, p. 7.
Paragraph 15. “Declaration of Nesha Donaldson,” McCormick Document 25-10, p. 3.
Paragraph 16. “Action List – March 2023,” McCormick Document 25-12, p. 1.
Paragraph 17. “Declaration of Schinley Land,” McCormick Document 25-1, pp. 11-12.
Paragraph 18. “Declaration of Schinley Land,” McCormick Document 25-1, pp. 11-12.
Paragraph 19. “Declaration of Schinley Land,” McCormick Document 25-1, p. 12; “Declaration of Glenda Pelfrey,” McCormick Document 25-22, p. 2.
Paragraph 20. “Declaration of Glenda Pelfrey,” McCormick Document 25-22, p. 2.
Paragraph 21. “Declaration of Lisa Courtney,” Noffsinger Document 28, pp. 22-23.
Paragraph 22. “Declaration of Lisa Courtney,” Noffsinger Document 28, pp. 22-23.
Paragraph 23. “Declaration of Lisa Courtney,” Noffsinger Document 28, pp. 22-23.
Paragraph 24. “Deposition of James Clements,” Noffsinger Document 25-48, transcript p. 24, filed p. 6.
Paragraph 25. “Deposition of Nesha Donaldson,” Noffsinger Document 25-57, transcript pp. 37-38, filed p. 10.
Paragraph 26. “Plaintiff’s Brief in Opposition to Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment,” Noffsinger Document 29, pp. 19-20; “Declaration of Lisa Courtney,” Noffsinger Document 28, p. 23.
Paragraph 27. Sept. 25, 2026, text order setting a hearing on CRMC’s motion for summary judgment, Noffsinger Document 34.
Background
