Hospital denies allegations of discrimination in hiring

NURSE WEEK

Where Nurses find the latest news, resources and opportunities

Texas Edition     Vol 8, No. 10   Second May 1995 Issue

HOUSTON-Houston Northwest Medical Center, now facing a class action suit, denied all allegations of racial discrimination.

The medical center said in a news release that the court's April 13 decision by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt, which certified a class of 3,000 minority job applicants arid employees of Houston Northwest Medical Center who claim they were victims of racial discrimination in employment, did not address the merits of the medical center's position.  The court's certification simply accepted the plaintiff's claims as true, without looking at any of the evidence, representatives of file medical center said.  "This is only file first step in a lengthy process that will ultimately require each of the purported class members to prove their allegations," said the release.

A news release from Houston Northwest Medical Center said that it "has always been an equal opportunity employer and, as a result, die hospital has assembled a diverse work force of medical professionals that reflects the community it serves."

The news release also said that "despite tile hospital’s outstanding equal opportunity record, IO years ago the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleged that the hospital had discriminated against African Americans and Hispanics.  That allegation is untrue.  The EEOC brought this charge because it believed that those groups were not represented in tile hospital's work force in file same statistical proportion as in Harris County.  In fact, the hospital's staff mirrors the area from which it is drawn."

The suit, filed last July, alleges that the med="ical center discriminated against Hispanics and blacks lit hiring and advancement decisions beginning Jan. 1, 1981.

An EEOC investigation in the late 1980s found unlawful practices at the hospital, including racial discrimination in hiring and recruiting.  After issuing a finding of discriminatory practices, the EEOC began in late 1987 to work with the hospital as part of a three year corrective plan.  However, the plaintiffs claim that the hospital continued to use racial criteria for recruiting, hiring, and treatment of applicants and employees

Most of the complaints were that the minorities were treated with hostility to discourage applying," said Patrick Chukelu, co-counsel for tile plaintiffs in tile suit.  "Caucasians were treated with respect while the minority applicants were treated with hostility and in one particular instance the applicant was basically told that there were no vacancies for the position that she was applying for, which was advertised as open.  So she insisted on proceeding to file air application, sat down, took the time to go through the process of filling out the application and turned it in, and it was thrown in the trash can in front of her."

In its statement, the medical center denied throwing away anyone’s application.  The statement said, "Many of tile plaintiffs allegations made in the newspapers (but not proved in court) are not credible.  For example, according to lawyers, one plaintiff claims her application was thrown in  the trash can. In fact, the hospital accepted, reviewed, and kept in its files thousands of applications from African Americans and Hispanics.  While the hospital is able to offer jobs to only a small number of applicants, all applicants are treated the same without regard to race or national origin."

Compiled and written by Brooke Shelby Biggs. Texas Editor Deanna Hodgin, Editorial Assistant Michael Monaghan, and Associate Editor Alana  Schwermer from international, national, regional, and local newspapers and magazines; trade publications; wire services; interviews: and reports.