HCA is in legal trouble with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which has filed suit charging the corporation with refusing to promote an employee because of his age, race and national origin, as well as subsequently firing him in retaliation for complaining about the discrimination.
The lawsuit alleges that an Asian American medical researcher was passed over for a promotion into a Director of Research position in favor of a younger, white employee. The position qualifications, the EEOC alleges, included having a graduate degree in statistics, informatics, or similar research-related field as well as experience working with large health data sets. The EEOC alleges that the person hired did not meet these qualifications and instead had a background in HR and communications. .
The employee raised concerns with HCA after learning of the differences in qualifications. HCA management then allegedly took retaliatory action, including writing up the employee, verbal beratements, and ultimately terminating him. The EEOC alleges that HCA’s conduct is a direct violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.