Terminated Employees Receives Settlement in Racial and Age Discrimination Claims
Terminated Employees v Hospital Facility Administrators
Age and Race Discrimination - Labor and Employment Law
The following cases are taken from the records of successful settlements made by the Mesriani Law & Associates in behalf of two clients, John and George Doe*, who were involved in a labor and employment issue, specifically a claim against discrimination by age and race.
Mr. John Doe had been working for a hospital for nine years when he was unjustly terminated at the age of 61. Doe was an outstanding employee, well-liked both by fellow workers and hospital clients. Since he started working in 1996, he rose from operating engineer to the position of facility services manager until he was terminated in 2005.
Initially, no immediate reasons were given for Mr. Doe’s termination. But he soon found out, through a call made to him by the hospital DHO that he had been under investigation for alleged negligence. He was placed under administrative leave and charged with the following allegations:
- Fire and Life safety issues
- Engineer misconduct
- Fraudulent overtime
- Negligence in maintaining the plant
- Outside consulting services
The investigation later found Mr. Doe negligent on two of the allegations, namely fire and life safety issues and negligence in maintaining the plant.
Although he had the evidence to prove the contrary, Mr. Doe was not given enough opportunity to defend himself. The duties in which he was allegedly negligent were actually the work of a chief engineer, which he had to perform in addition to his regular duties as facility service manager. He was even commended several times for his excellent performance.
Despite all these, the hospital still decided to terminate Mr. Doe, even if the grounds on which they based his termination were clearly unjust and wrong. Other than his being 61 and an Iranian, Mr. Doe could see no other obvious reason why he was terminated.
On the other hand, Mr. George Doe suffered similar fate on account of his advanced age and being an Iranian like Mr. John Doe. He had worked in the same medical facility for 12 twelve years as facility director. He handled two location facilities of the hospital and also received commendations for his good performance.
But like John, Mr. George Doe also received a call from the hospital DHO informing him that he was being investigated by the compliance office in regard to the service he rendered in one of the facilities.
Two years after Mr. George Doe left the care of the facility to another director, problems arose.
The hospital blamed Mr. Doe for the problems and terminated him in 2003, two years after the investigation had been conducted and the problem detected. To make it worse, the two chief engineers involved in the problem continue to work in the hospital and were not even penalized.
During their ordeal, both victims received racial remarks, derogatory comments and accusations. After their termination, they were even ridiculed and made fun of by some of Kaiser’s personnel.
Consequently, both victims expressed their indignation and through the assistance of the Mesriani Law & Associates, made their grievances known to concerned hospital officials and administrators.
In the letter for demand of settlement sent by both victims, they held hospital officials liable for a wrongful termination offense under such applicable laws as respondeat superior, negligence and negligent hiring, and violation of anti-discrimination law based on age and race. The two victims also hinted on the potential special and punitive damages that may be applied once the case is brought before the courts and litigated.
For general damages and loss of earnings claim, the two victims demanded a sum of $ 1,000,000.00 for each of them.
* We have changed the real name of our client to protect her identity.