Ex-employees file discrimination lawsuits against University

Two former employees of the University filed discrimination lawsuits against Penn over the summer.

In one case, Lucretia Nelson, a former employee at the University's Medical Center, is charging the Medical Center with harassment based on national origin and retaliation.

Nelson, a U.S. citizen of Liberian descent, worked as a certified nursing assistant for the University Medical Center from June 1989 to September 2006.

According to the lawsuit, over the last four years of Nelson's employment - notably in June 2006 - another employee verbally harassed Nelson, allegedly saying that Nelson should have stayed in Liberia and that the jobs at the medical center are "for us."

Nelson made numerous complaints over the years about this employee to a nurse manager, according to court documents. Nelson claims that not only did the manager ignore her complaints, but the manager also told Nelson she should work someplace else.

When Nelson filed a complaint about the harasser in the University Medical Center's computerized complaint system in June 2006, the manager threatened Nelson for going behind her back.

The lawsuit says Nelson was then treated poorly and was eventually terminated.

Stephanie Mensing, Nelson's attorney, said she and Nelson "feel very confident in the case."

In a separate lawsuit filed over the summer, Fahmida Hussain, a dentist at Penn's School of Dental Medicine, is suing the University, the Dental School and the Penn Dental Medicine Care Network for discrimination based on race, sex, national origin, retaliation and her status as a mother.

Hussain, who is a U.S. citizen originally from Bangladesh, was hired as a staff dentist in 2000 and became an assistant group leader in 2006. She was discharged from the assistant group leader position in late 2006.

She filed two discrimination lawsuits with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in April and June of 2007, charging that she had been passed over for promotions, not given certain responsibilities and demoted from her assistant group-leader position for discriminatory reasons.

The University terminated her employment in June 2007, saying that Hussain had been performing poorly at her job, according to the lawsuit. Hussain denies that claim.

Additionally, Hussain filed a class-action lawsuit against the University, claiming, according to court documents, it has "established a pattern and practice of discriminating against women, mothers, foreign-born individuals and individuals of Asian descent."

Hussain's lawyer did not return calls for comment.

University spokesman Ron Ozio said Penn does not comment on impending lawsuits.

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