Certain jobs in Michigan can be complicated when the employee’s mandate is to research into various issues that might be viewed as controversial and reporting on it honestly. However, a person’s job duties are what they are and if they make a decision to follow through on them as instructed, it is illegal for the employers to take part in any form of retaliation. Unfortunately, this happens all too frequently. When this level of employment law violation occurs, the person who was affected by it must be aware that there is the opportunity to file a lawsuit to seek compensation for the wrong that was done.
The head of the Office for Healthcare Equity and Inclusion for the University of Michigan Health System was dismissed from her job after a report she filed. The employee looked into allegations that security personnel were called to keep an eye on blacks who were at the hospital as visitors or patients more often in comparison to whites. In December 2014, she began an investigation to check whether this was accurate. After looking at the frequency with which security was called based on the racial makeup of the individuals, she found that 24 percent of the calls were made for blacks and 66 percent for whites. This is in contrast to what the numbers should have been based on the racial component at the hospital. 12 percent of the patients were black; 79 percent were white.
The number of times security should have been called was expected to reflect that in a statistical manner, but it didn’t. The data she used was from 2006 to 2014. After she filed the report in December, she was dismissed the next month. She has filed a lawsuit alleging that she was dismissed out of retaliation and that the hospital did not want her findings to be made public. For its part, the hospital states that the woman was fired for several violations and there was no connection to her study.
Discrimination and wrongful termination can come in many different forms for a variety of reasons. Those who believe they have been subjected to any form of discrimination or retaliation because of the work they were doing, or for their religion, national origin, sexual orientation or race should make sure they understand their rights to receive compensation. For that, a lawyer can help with moving forward with a legal case.
Source: michiganradio.org, “UM doctor suing after being terminated from executive role at hospital,” Tyler Scott, Oct. 24, 2016