A Marietta company that provides in-home nursing services is accused of steering black nurses away from the homes of white clients.
Former staffers at Accord Services said the company would describe nurses as “too black, too ethnic, and too old or too ghetto" in deciding whether to send them to a home, according to a federal lawsuit.
"Defendants intentionally discriminated against black applicants and employees, including both African Americans and Africans, in favor of Caucasian and Hispanic applicants and employees," said the lawsuit, which seeks monetary damages.
The four plaintiffs said the "negative stereotyping of blacks created a working environment permeated with hostility towards blacks."
A spokesman for the company, however, said the plaintiffs are simply disgruntled former employees who had either resigned or were fired.
"I read the allegation, and it is completely false," administrator Freddy Allen told Channel 2 Action News. He noted that the company has black nurses who have worked for Accord Services for almost a decade.
The plaintiffs are listed as Erika Arnold, Tracee Goodman, Debra Trawick and Christine Muchene. They claim violations under the U.S. Civil Rights Act.
"You could hear something from, ‘We can't use a nurse because they were too ghetto,' or ‘This client doesn't prefer foreigners' and ‘Black women are not professional,'" Arnold, a former human resources manager, said in the lawsuit. She was hired in June 2007 and fired in April 2009.
Goodman, another former HR staffer who worked at the company between October 2006 and December 2008, made similar allegations in the 63-page suit.
"Before placing someone in a position, I was blatantly asked in front of a group of people what color is she or how old is she," said Goodman, who verified applications and conducted background checks.
Goodman said "race-based" comments were made regularly at staffing meetings, where Accord would express preferences to hire white and Hispanic applicants for nurse and nurse's aide positions.
Trawick, a white office manager who worked at Accord between June and August 2009, said the company openly discussed clients' preferences for white or younger nurses and nurse's aides.
“'You gotta staff him with a WG because you know he doesn’t want a black person,'” Trawick said in recalling comments at meetings. "‘We can’t use her. She is missing a tooth and [is] too ghetto.'”
Muchene, a certified nurse's aide and a Kenyan, said she first applied to Accord in 2007 and every year she was told her application was active and she would be called if a position became available. She said she was never called even after seeing postings for job openings that later would be filled.
Trawick, while she was office manager, said that when she inquired about Muchene's application, she was told the company preferred younger applicants and non-Africans.
Muchene, a permanent legal U.S. resident, filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which issued her a "notice of right to sue."
Allen, however, dismissed the claims.
"All the allegations are coming from a few disgruntled employees who either resigned or we let go," the Accord Services’ administrator told Channel 2.
Allen, who is also black, said if a potential client requests a nurse of a different race the request is denied and the client is referred elsewhere.
An attorney for the plaintiffs says the group wants a jury to decide monetary damages.
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