NEW YORK—ACARE HHC, Inc., a Four Seasons home health care agency and Brooklyn-based supplier of home health aides, announced it will pay $400,000 and furnish other relief to settle a race and national origin discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, Four Seasons routinely acceded to patients’ racial preferences when making home health aide assignments, including the removal of Black and Hispanic aides. In those cases, the aides would be transferred to a new assignment or, if no other assignment were available, lose their employment completely.
Four Seasons' conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of race and national origin, including in the making of job assignments, based on biased client preference.
“Employers cannot make job assignment decisions based on a client’s preference for a worker of a particular race or national origin,” said Kimberly Cruz, EEOC regional attorney. “It is imperative for employers to have policies, training and other safeguards in place that help prevent a client’s prejudices from influencing their employment decisions.”
The EEOC filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York after first attempting to reach pre-litigation settlements through its conciliation process.
The consent decree settling the suit provides $400,000 in monetary relief to a class of home health aides affected by the discriminatory practices and significant non-monetary relief designed to prevent discrimination with respect to home health aide assignments in the future. These provisions include an injunction prohibiting Four Seasons from making home health aide assignments based on a clients’ race- and/or national-origin-based preferences; updates to Four Seasons’ internal policies; mandatory training for management employees about Title VII; and reporting of complaints.
“In the 60 years since the enactment of Title VII, the EEOC has remained vigilant and committed to the elimination of discrimination in the workplace, which includes addressing employer practices which accede to client’s discriminatory preferences,” said Yaw Gyebi, Jr., director of the EEOC’s New York district office. “The EEOC will continue to investigate allegations against employers who make job assignments based on such improper bases and obtain appropriate relief for those victims who are harmed by such practices.”
