By Elizabeth Tempio Clement On May 16, 2013, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed its first class action lawsuit under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) against a nursing and rehabilitation center. The EEOC filed this class action just 11 days after it filed—and then immediately settled—its very first lawsuit alleging genetic bias. The… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Discrimination
Subscribe to Discrimination RSS FeedHospital Employee Properly Fired for Failure to Disclose Drug Abuse, Third Circuit Finds
By Yvette Gatling Although former drug addicts are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Third Circuit recently held that a hospital legitimately fired a recovering drug addict who lied about his treatment when he was hired. The court’s determination in Robert Reilly v. Lehigh Valley Hospital emphasizes the importance of basing adverse… Continue Reading
Vegan Hospital Worker’s Flu Vaccination Refusal May Be Protected Religious Belief
By Rob Wolff The Supreme Court and Title VII’s expansive view of “religion” is well illustrated by Chenzira v. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, in which an Ohio federal court denied a motion to dismiss a hospital worker’s claim that her termination for refusing to have a mandatory flu vaccination because she was a vegan was… Continue Reading
Hospitals Face Increasing Religious Discrimination Claims
By Breanne Sheetz According to data from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, religious discrimination complaints have nearly doubled in the last 15 years. Hospitals are not immune from these types of claims, a point that has been reinforced recently by a federal district court and a state attorney general. In Hickey v. State University… Continue Reading
$2 Million Settlement in Race Discrimination Class Action Against Hospital by Job Applicants
By Ryan Eddings Last week, in Meeks v. Allen Memorial Hospital, a state court in Iowa approved a $2 million settlement in a race discrimination class action against an Iowa hospital. This case is yet another reminder that health care employers must consider both federal and state laws when assessing their employment practices. The named plaintiff in… Continue Reading
Accommodation for Healthcare Employees Objecting to Abortion-Related Procedures
By Alex Frondorf and Rob Wolff Healthcare employees who object to providing patient care for women seeking an abortion have long presented a thorny issue for healthcare employers. A recent settlement in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey is a reminder that this issue continues to raise tricky questions. Nonetheless, a careful employer… Continue Reading
Hospital’s Post-Offer Medical Questions May Violate ADA, Title VII, and Employee Privacy Rights
By David Goldstein According to a Michigan federal district court decision, Garlitz v. Alpena Regional Medical Center, a hospital may be liable for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Title VII, and violation of privacy rights for withdrawing an employment offer to a medical technologist after she refused to answer a post-offer, preemployment… Continue Reading
2011 LGBT Healthcare Equality Index Response Nearly Doubles
By Rob Wolff On June 30, 2011, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) released its 2011 Healthcare Equality Index. This is the fifth year that the HRC has surveyed healthcare providers nationwide to assess policies and practices related to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender patients and their families. This year, 87 healthcare systems and 375 medical… Continue Reading
Supreme Court Holds Hospital Liable for Discrimination Under Cat’s Paw Theory
In an opinion that potentially expands an employer’s liability in discrimination cases, the Supreme Court has found that an employer can be found liable under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) for the discriminatory intent of company officials who influenced – but did not make – the ultimate adverse employment decision. In… Continue Reading
Final Rules Issued Requiring Equal Visitation Rights for All Hospital Patients
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued the final rules prohibiting Medicare- and Medicaid-participating hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAH) from denying visitation privileges on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability, and protecting patients’ right to choose the visitors they want, including same-sex domestic… Continue Reading
Agreeing to Patient Racial Preference Violates Title VII
In Chaney v. Plainfield Healthcare Center, a case that “pits a health-care worker’s right to a non-discriminatory workplace against a patient’s demand for white-only health-care providers,” the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals came down strongly on the side of the employee, finding that a nursing home’s acquiescence to the patient’s demand created a racially hostile… Continue Reading
CMS Proposed Rule on Equal Visitation Rights
On June 28, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a Proposed Rule on Equal Visitation Rights (pdf) for patients in Medicare- and Medicaid-participating hospitals, including critical access hospitals. As a condition of participation in Medicare and Medicaid, the proposed rule would require hospitals to… Continue Reading
An Interview With Tom Sullivan, Editor of the Healthcare Equality Index (HEI)
The Healthcare Equality Index (HEI), which was discussed in a June 16, 2010 post, is an annual survey by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation that evaluates healthcare facilities on their policies and practices related to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees, patients, and families. The HEI has been described as a benchmarking tool for identifying… Continue Reading
Hospitals Fall Short Serving LGBT Patients, Says 2010 Healthcare Equality Index
Hospitals across the country have a long way to go in serving the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) patients, according to the 2010 Healthcare Equality Index. pdf (HEI), which rates hospital systems on LGBT issues. The report, issued by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), concluded that Our nation’s hospital system is simply not meeting the needs… Continue Reading
Expansion of Hospital Visitation and Decision-Making Rights for Gay and Lesbian Partners
On April 15, 2010, President Barack Obama issued a Memorandum to the Secretary of Health and Human Services instructing her to initiate rulemaking that would require hospitals participating in Medicare or Medicaid to provide gay and lesbians the same rights to visit with their hospitalized partners and make medical decisions on their behalf that other… Continue Reading