EEOC Files Disability Discrimination Lawsuit Against Johns Hopkins Home Care Group

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
PRESS RELEASE
7-14-11

Health Care Provider Refused Accommodation to Employee With Breast Cancer, Then Fired Her, Federal Agency Charged

BALTIMORE – Johns Hopkins Home Care Group, Inc. (JHHCG), a full-service home health care provider, violated federal law when it fired an employee because of her disability and because she challenged the company’s failure to accommodate her, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it announced today.
According to the EEOC’s suit, JHHCG had employed Ray Ellen Fisher, a registered nurse, as a pediatric case manager since 2003. According to the complaint, Fisher was diagnosed with breast cancer in September 2009 and shortly thereafter began medical treatment for her disability. JHHCG refused to provide Fisher with reasonable accommodations to enable her to return to work in a pediatric case manager job or an appropriate alternate position, despite Fisher’s being released to return to work with limited restrictions that were phased out and ultimately eliminated. As a result of JHHCG’s refusal to reasonably accommodate her, Fisher filed a discrimination charge with the EEOC. The EEOC said that Fisher was subsequently subjected to adverse employment actions, including termination, in retaliation for her having filed the charge.
Such alleged conduct violates the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). The EEOC filed suit (Case No. 11-cv-01911) in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. The agency seeks injunctive relief and punitive damages as well as lost wages and benefits because of JHHCG’s discrimination.
“Federal law clearly obligates employers to work with disabled employees to determine how best to accommodate them,” said Regional Attorney Debra Lawrence of the EEOC’s Philadelphia District Office, which oversees Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia, Maryland, and portions of New Jersey and Ohio. “Further, retaliating against someone for filing a discrimination charge is unlawful, and the EEOC will continue to vigorously prosecute cases where the employer has punished an employee for simply exercising her rights under the law.”
According to the company’s website, Johns Hopkins Home Care Group, Inc. is owned and operated by Johns Hopkins Health System and Johns Hopkins University and has been servicing Maryland since 1983.
The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Further information about the EEOC is available on its web site at www.eeoc.gov.

On Faculty Diversity, Johns Hopkins University Puts Its Money Where Its Mouth Is

Journal of Blacks in Higher Education
JBHE Weekly Bulletin
February 19, 2009

Many colleges and universities pay lip service to the view that they want to increase the racial diversity of their faculties. But very few actually take concrete steps to make it happen.
Recently Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore announced the Mosaic Initiative, a five-year program that would allocate $1 million each year in matching funds from the administration for deans, department chairs, and search committees to use to attract black and other minority faculty members. The initiative is under the direction of Ray Gillian, vice provost for institutional equity.
Departments at Johns Hopkins can ask the university administration for funds for salary, research, and laboratory equipment and supplies.

Full Story: http://www.jbhe.com/latest/news/2-19-09/hopkins.html

Johns Hopkins Pledges $5 Million Toward Faculty Diversity Initiative

Diverse Issues in Higher Education
by Sarah Lake
Apr 8, 2008, 22:21

Johns Hopkins University announced plans to invest at least $5 million over the next five years in the Mosaic Initiative, a program focused on hiring and retaining women and people of color.

“Our aim is to create a mosaic of the best and the brightest faculty across all our schools and in all our disciplines, a mosaic including rising stars interested in becoming part of the intellectual life of this great institution,” provost Kristina M. Johnson said.

This academic year, Johns Hopkins has added 206 more women and 45 more minorities to its full-time faculty of 3,519 than it did four years ago, she said. Even with these additions, women make up only 38 percent of full-time faculty and less than 20 percent of full professors. Minorities continue to be underrepresented on campus, making up only 6 percent of the full-time faculty and less than 4 percent of full professors, Johnson said. [To read the entire article, go to: http://diverseeducation.com/artman/publish/article_10970.shtml ]