Benefits May 22, 2006

Report: Reprimanded Boston Health Exec Admits to More Sex Harassment

May 22, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The president of a Boston-based health care provider has admitted to sexually harassing more women than in the four cases for which he was reprimanded last week.
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An attorney for the Boston Archdiocese told the Boston Globe that not only has Dr. Robert Haddad, the Caritas Christi Health Care system president, admitted to more instances of sexual harassment, but witnesses have also indicated there were more victims.

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David Mandel, an employment law specialist working for the archdiocese, told the Globe that the archdiocese has kicked off a further probe of Haddad following reports that he ”leered and winked” at one of the four victims on May 10, after the archdiocesan investigation was all but concluded.

If the inquiry finds that the reports were accurate, the Caritas board of governors that agreed to the ”stern reprimand” would have to consider possible further sanctions against Haddad, Mandel told the newspaper.

According to Mandel, the board was told Thursday that there were more than the four women involved before they endorsed Cardinal Sean O’Malley’s recommendation that Haddad be reprimanded and receive instruction in sexual harassment guidelines.

Benefits May 19, 2006

Woman Sues Utah School Claiming Hiring Discrimination

May 19, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A Maryland woman on Wednesday filed a discrimination lawsuit against the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind (USDB), claiming that the institution refuses to hire her because she is blind.
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According to the Deseret Morning News, Mary Jo Thorpe filed the suit in the 3rd District Court in Salt Lake City, arguing that her master’s degree in education with an emphasis on teaching blind students qualifies her for a teaching position at USDB, for which she applied in November 2004.

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The position offered was in USDB’s parent-infant program, requiring the specialist to perform visual tracking tests and to teach visual stimulation. Thorpe went to several interviews for the job but was not hired, the newspaper reported.

The suit claims that school officials were concerned whether Thorpe’s blindness would prevent her from performing such tasks, even after Thorpe assured them that she could use alternative techniques to perform all of the required job duties. She said she was told by the officials interviewing her that she had a good chance of getting the job, and that she would be an “excellent role model for blind students.”

Thorpe filed an employment discrimination claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in June of 2005. The EEOC gave Thorpe permission in March to file a civil action against USDB.

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