A franchise of one of the largest healthcare staffing agencies in the United States will pay $100,000 for a controversial job vacancy advertisement in which it explicitly stated it did not want Haitians applying.
Interim Healthcare of Greater New York, Inc. will also revise its policies and procedures, under an agreement announced yesterday by New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
Schneiderman said the agreement will protect applicants and potential applicants against discrimination on the basis of national origin, race or any other protected class.
The settlement resolves the investigation into the company, which arose after the Attorney General learned that the job vacancy ad requesting a female, “laid back nurse, no Haitians”, was published in a local newspaper on October 15 last year.
State officials, at least one nurses association, and members of the Haitian community in New York were outraged by the ad, describing it as illegal, discrimination in its purest form, and a direct violation of the Civil Rights Act.
“Blatantly discriminatory job advertisements like this are wrong and clearly illegal,” Schneiderman said. “My Office is committed to ensuring equal access to employment for all New Yorkers and will not tolerate discrimination against any New Yorker based on race or national origin or any other protected status.”
The Attorney General’s investigation included reviewing policies related to hiring, advertising and internal complaints; anti-discrimination policies; copies of published advertisements for employment; and documents produced by Interim Healthcare relating directly to the published advertisement that excluded Haitian applicants.
It found that the discriminatory advertisement stemmed from a patient’s request, specifically asking for a nurse who was not Haitian. But according to the Attorney General’s Office, Interim Healthcare workers placed the discriminatory request for publication in the Pennysaver newspaper in error and, prior to being published, the ad was not reviewed for compliance with Interim Healthcare’s internal equal opportunity policies or compliance with governing civil rights laws.
The investigation also revealed that Interim Healthcare placed a number of advertisements stating that only females or males could apply, without conducting an individualized analysis of each patient’s request to determine if there was a bona fide occupational qualification justifying a gender-specific request, as required by law.
In addition, Interim Healthcare placed numerous advertisements that exclusively featured images of women, possibly discouraging male applicants from applying for the advertised positions.
“Ultimately, the Attorney General’s investigation found that Interim Healthcare had inadequate safeguards in place to prevent or remedy unlawful employment discrimination based on the discriminatory requests of patients,” a statement from Schneiderman’s office said.
In addition to paying the $100,000 in penalties, fees and costs in connection with the investigation, Interim Healthcare has, therefore, agreed to:
Develop a Caregiver Placement Equal Employment Opportunity Policy prohibiting discriminatory conduct in processing patients’ requests for caregivers, hiring and advertising for employment in compliance with the law;
Designate the Vice President of Human Resources to oversee the processing of patients’ requests for caregivers, advertising and hiring process;
Conduct an Anti-Discrimination Training Programme for all employees whose responsibilities involve patients’ requests for caregivers, recruitment, advertisement, and hiring;
And investigate all complaints, written or oral, alleging discriminatory treatment on the basis of race, national origin or gender and provide the Attorney General with reports describing all such complaints.
“The contributions Haitian-Americans and their families have made to not only the healthcare profession but in all aspects of our society should be celebrated, not rejected, and this settlement sends a strong message of our commitment to protect the rights of all New Yorkers,” New York State Senator David Carlucci said.
