The former chief human resources officer of pharmaceutical manufacturer Nephron filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging it wrongfully terminated her after she raised concerns about illegal conduct.
According to court documents, Nola Grant began working for South Carolina-based Nephron in October 2022. During her employment, she allegedly discovered that the company experienced a loss of fentanyl and failed to report the incident to the DEA or other required authorities. Grant claimed she raised the issue with the company’s chief administrative officer and chief operating officer, but no corrective action was taken and no report was filed.
The lawsuit argued that Grant’s reporting of the fentanyl loss constituted protected whistleblower activity and stated that she faced retaliatory conduct that led to her wrongful termination in April 2025.
In a separate incident, Grant alleged that CEO Lou Kennedy lied to the FDA about Nephron’s use and storage of a company warehouse in Calhoun County. The lawsuit said Grant possesses a recorded conversation in which Nephron’s operations director admitted that the company cleared the warehouse during a “late-night” operation in anticipation of FDA inquiry. Additionally, Grant claimed that two other Nephron employees admitted that the company provided altered surveillance footage when the agency requested to review the preceding 24 hours of video.
Other claims accused Kennedy of ordering Grant to falsify applicant contact data in response to an Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) audit and to enter a non-employee into Nephron’s payroll system to support a fraudulent insurance claim. Grant further alleged that Kennedy subjected her to “severe and pervasive racially discriminatory and hostile conduct” during her tenure as Nephron’s only Black executive-level officer.
Grant seeks a jury trial, compensatory damages and other relief outlined in the lawsuit.
Nephron has not responded to IEN’s request for comment.
