I just finished trying an age discrimination case and the good news is that we won. Here’s an article published yesterday about the case:
Jury awards Cleveland woman $900K in age discrimination employment case
CLEVELAND, OH – A Cleveland jury in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Wednesday returned a $900,000 verdict in a significant employment discrimination lawsuit brought by a former employee of Cleveland’s University Hospitals Case Medical Center. The lawsuit filed by Gloria Parks against University Hospitals alleged that Parks, a medical assistant, was discriminated against because of her age when she was terminated from her job of 30 years in July of 2008.
After a seven-day trial in the courtroom of Judge Carolyn Friedland, the jury found that age was a determining factor in University Hospitals’ decision to terminate Ms. Parks’ employment. Parks was awarded $450,000 for her economic loss and $450,000 for other compensatory damages.
“We are thrilled that Gloria Parks received the justice that she deserved from the jury”, said renowned civil rights lawyer Ellen S. Simon, of counsel with McCarthy, Lebit, Crystal & Liffman, and lead attorney on this case. “Nothing could be better than to see Ms. Parks have the opportunity to be vindicated. What happened to Gloria was tragic and shouldn’t happen to anyone.”
Parks’ lawsuit charged that her termination stemmed from a patient identification incident in July of 2008, involving Parks and a younger co-worker in the pre-admission testing department where they both worked. The mix-up occurred when two patients with the identical name appeared at the department on the same morning to get their blood drawn. UH claimed that Parks failed to follow the proper patient identification policy, but witnesses testified that the policy was not enforced in the department and not properly followed by the employee who checked the patient in that day, pulled the wrong medical chart, and passed it off to Parks. The mistake was discovered and corrected before the patient left the department and the blood work was for both patients was properly processed without any error. Neither patient was harmed. After Parks was fired, the department changed its procedures in the department to require proof of identification at the time of check in with a driver’s license.
Parks claimed that Steve Diltz, who became her supervisor five months prior to the incident, had singled her out and treated her differently than her younger coworkers since his assignment to her department. Evidence presented at trial showed that Diltz seized on the identification incident as a means to ensure that Parks was fired, and that his decision to unjustly fire her was supported without question by University Hospitals human resources department as well as Diltz’s manager without any independent investigation. The incident resulted in a patient complaint, but the testimony of the patient revealed that it was a third employee involved with the patient — the department nurse — not Parks, who had upset the patient on the day in question. The nurse was never disciplined.
Parks’ age discrimination claim was supported by the fact that she and the younger co-worker were involved in an identical incident and Parks was fired while the younger co-worker received no discipline whatsoever. The evidence also showed that younger employees made comparable or more serious mistakes with some frequency in the department and received no formal corrective action or discipline, and that no other long term employee had been discharged for a single mistake at UH involving a patient which caused no harm .
Parks, who was 54 at the time of her discharge, and known throughout the hospital as one of the best phlebotomists at UH, had a “Do Not Re-Hire” permanently placed in her personnel file. A day after her termination, Parks was replaced by Diltz with a much younger worker. As a consequence of the firing and the “Do Not Re-Hire” classification, Gloria Parks has since been unable to find permanent employment at any hospitals, and lost her home, as well as her ability to make a living in her field. “I am very pleased with the verdict”, said Parks, following the jury’s decision. “It’s been so hard – I loved my job. I just couldn’t believe this was happening to me. Now, I have a chance to make a new start. I am so thankful for my legal team, and my family and friends who stood by me at this difficult time. I thank God for all their support.”
For more about the case, read theCleveland Plain Dealer Article, here. Needless to say, we’re thrilled. More to come about the case when I get a chance to recuperate.
About the Author: Ellen Simon’s focus includes civil rights cases, dispute resolution services, litigation strategy and management and complaint investigation. She’s had more than $50 million* in verdicts and settlements and over 30 years of experience. She’s been lauded for her work on landmark cases that helped establish employment law in both state and federal court.
This blog originally appeared in http://www.employeerightspost.com on February 18, 2011.
