Haight v. NYU Langone Med. Ctr. Inc. (Summary)

SEXUAL HARASSMENT/HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT

Haight v. NYU Langone Med. Ctr. Inc., No. 13 Civ. 04993 (LGS)(S.D. N.Y. June 27, 2014)

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted in part and denied in part a hospital’s motion to dismiss an action brought by a former nurse accusing the hospital, under state law, of negligent supervision, quid pro quo sexual harassment, hostile work environment sexual harassment, disability discrimination and failure to provide a reasonable accommodation, and religious discrimination. The nurse, a 41-year-old woman with gynecological problems and a strict follower of the Catholic faith, was harassed by a co-worker over a six-year period. The co-worker impermissibly accessed the nurse’s personal medical charts numerous times and used this information to call the nurse late at night, inappropriately touched her, and negatively discussed the nurse’s medical problems and religious practices with other employees. The co-worker was also suspected of leaving a used pregnancy test on the nurse’s desk. Additionally, a doctor who worked with the nurse gave her a religious book when the physician heard about her health problems. He advised her that it had a section “on women who were cursed by God because they have no children[.]” The nurse repeatedly made complaints to the hospital’s human resources department and HIPAA compliance officer.

The co-worker was fired from the hospital, but an outside vender hired her the next month as a nurse educator and vendor fill-in. The nurse saw the co-worker at the hospital seven times within the next four months, with each meeting resulting in the nurse feeling physically ill and almost fainting. Some of these meetings were facilitated by the “gifting” doctor mentioned above who purposely scheduled them on the same shift. After another encounter with the co-worker, the nurse complained to human resources. She was removed from work after an independent third party concluded that she was a victim of abuse as a result of a hostile work environment. The nurse began collecting worker’s compensation as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder and was terminated a year later.

The court held that a jury could reasonably determine that the hospital was negligent of supervising its workers; the nurse was a victim of sexual harassment based on a hostile work environment; and the nurse was a victim of disability discrimination and failure to provide a reasonable accommodation. The court reasoned that the hospital had knowledge of the co-worker’s propensity of wrongdoing due to the nurse’s repeated complaints and it breached its duty of providing a safe work environment to the nurse by allowing her and the co-worker to continuously work together. The court stated that a hostile work environment for sexual harassment existed because the essence of the harassment, the nurse’s medical condition and records, was based on her gender. Lastly, the court stated that the hospital was aware of the nurse’s post-traumatic stress disorder but never attempted to accommodate her before the hospital terminated her employment.