Sheila Brown sued her former employer, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, alleging racial discrimination and harassment. The complaint, lodged on September 30, 2024, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, outlines allegations of race-based discrimination, harassment, and retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Brown, who began working as an Environmental Service Technician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital on September 07, 2021, alleges she faced different terms and conditions of employment compared to her non-African American colleagues despite her meeting or exceeding performance expectations.

The situation escalated on November 28, 2023, when a co-worker allegedly began harassing her due to her race, including throwing a pen at her and using racial slurs. Despite reporting these events to supervisors and the hospital's Human Resources department, no corrective action was taken.

Brown recounts multiple incidents where she felt targeted because of her race. In April 2024, a colleague allegedly drove aggressively towards her car in the hospital parking garage. In another instance on May 7, 2024, during a meeting with supervisors, the same colleague allegedly bumped into her intentionally. Despite corroboration from other co-workers and video evidence supporting Brown's claims, no disciplinary actions were taken against the alleged perpetrator.

Brown's attempts to seek redress through internal channels were met with indifference or outright dismissal. Her termination on May 15, 2024, following an incident where she expressed frustration over continued harassment, is portrayed as retaliatory rather than justified. https://cookcountyrecord.com/stories/665053362-former-employee-alleges-racial-discrimination-against-northwestern-memorial-hospital (Oct. 10, 2024).

Commentary

In the above matter, the complainant lists a series of actions that she claims constitutes a race-based harassment. However, in none of the instances, if taken true, does the alleged perpetrator of the act state the reasons for committing the acts.

So, how does one know the difference between personal animosity toward a person and racial harassment?

Personal animosity stems from strong feelings of dislike or hatred towards someone and can arise from personality clashes, disagreements or past conflicts. While unpleasant, it doesn't always constitute illegal behavior unless it leads to discrimination.

On the other hand, race-based harassment is unwelcome conduct based on an individual's race or ethnicity and is due to a person's race. Racial harassment is illegal under various laws, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Importantly, while personal animosity may make work uncomfortable at times, racial harassment creates a hostile or intimidating environment, affecting the victim's ability to perform their job.

For healthcare employers, it does not matter the motivation of the alleged perpetrator. They have a duty to investigate all reports of racial harassment, take actions to prevent reoccurrences, and prevent retaliation against the person who reported.

Below is a checklist on preventing race-based harassment:

• Incorporate into your mission that workplace participants be treated equally, fairly, and respectfully
• Establish policies, procedures, and standards that promote equality, require civility, and respect boundaries and adhere to policies, including policies that prohibit harassment based on race and/or color
• Enforce your organization's policies, procedures, and standards, including those that prohibit harassment based on race and/or color
• Encourage all workplace participants to report harassment based on race and/or color that they view, discover, or reasonably suspect is occurring
• Avoid hiring or selecting applicants or workers with a history of harassing others based on race and/or color
• When hiring, require work and personal references and ask the references if the applicant has a history of harassment based on race and/or color, harassment complaints, uncivil or disrespectful behavior, and/or ignoring boundaries. If the answer is yes, move onto another applicant
• Review the public social media pages of applicants to determine if they engage others in a civil and respectful manner and if they respect the boundaries of others
• Discipline any employee — regardless of title, status, or duties — who engages in, encourages, or promotes harassment based on race and/or color, is uncivil to workplace participants, and/or ignores boundaries of others and/or the organization
• Discipline any employee — regardless of title, status, or duties — who makes a knowingly false claim of harassment based on race and/or color
• Make certain all terminations are based on provable and documented objective factors, related to job performance, and not based on subjective, arbitrary, or illegal factors, including terminations for reporting, complaining, and/or providing testimony about harassment based on race and/or color
• Make certain that new leadership treats existing employees equally, fairly, and legally prior to hire or transfer and does not have a history of harassment based on race and/or color, harassment complaints, uncivil or disrespectful behavior, and/or complaints regarding respecting boundaries of others
• Document all actions related to termination or discipline of workers, including workers accused of harassment based on race and/or color
• Require all workplace participants to take discrimination prevention training, that includes information on racism and/or color discrimination, in a language they understand
• Require all workers to take diversity, equality, inclusion, and civility training in a language the trainee can understand
• Provide several safe and effective means for workplace participants to report harassment based on race and/or color
• Clearly communicate, through policies, procedures and postings, the means and process by which workplace participants can report harassment based on race and/or color
• Allow for a means by which workplace participants can report harassment based on race and/or color anonymously without fear of retaliation
• Investigate all reports and reasonable suspicions of harassment based on race and/or color in a thorough, prompt, and objective manner
• Consider the use of third-party investigators for harassment investigations that involve executive management, more than one complainant, charges of assault or abuse, or where there is a conflict of interest with investigators that are workplace participants
• Prohibit retaliation against workplace participants who report or complain about harassment based on race and/or color or who are involved in investigations regarding such harassment
• Provide a safe and effective means for workplace participants, who report or complain about harassment based on race and/or color or who are involved in investigations regarding such harassment, to report retaliation