Six current and former workers at Catholic Health's Mercy Hospital of Buffalo (N.Y.) are suing the hospital, alleging harassment and discrimination against Black employees and retaliation against white employees who stood up for their Black colleagues, according to court documents.
The plaintiffs — who were or are jointly employed by Catholic Health and Dallas, Pa.-based Metz Culinary Management in the in the hospital's environmental services department — claim Black employees received more difficult and dangerous work assignments compared to their white counterparts and that only Black second-shift environmental services workers were assigned to clean COVID-19 rooms.
The lawsuit claims that white employees were fired or otherwise retaliated against when they helped their Black colleagues, offered to help or questioned the decision by Catholic Health and Metz.
The current and former workers also allege Metz and Catholic Health "failed to train their employees on COVID-19 protocols, violated federal and state COVID-19 related mandates, and retaliated against their employees when the employees raised issues of noncompliance that affected the health and safety of patients, staff and the public."
Metz did not respond to a request for comment from The Buffalo News.
A spokesperson for Catholic Health told Becker's, "As a mission-based healthcare system that honors the dignity of each person, Catholic Health is committed to protecting our associates against any form of discrimination or harassment. We cannot provide further comments on pending litigation."
The lawsuit was filed Aug. 19 in the Supreme Court of the State of New York. The plaintiffs seek $2 million and list the hospital, Catholic Health, Metz and two Metz supervisors at the hospital as defendants.