Home Health & Hospice Week

Don't underestimate the reputational costs of HR-related legal action.

You're facing increased financial risk in the health care regulatory and reimbursement arenas, but you also need to remember your compliance responsibilities with federal employment laws.

Hawaii Professional HomeCare Services Inc. in Honolulu has learned that lesson the hard way. The agency and its owner, Carolyn Frutoz-De Harne, have been ordered by a federal judge to pay $193,000 to a former employee allegedly fired for her age, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says in a release. Frutoz-De Harne ordered the 2008 termination of Debra Moreno, a then-54-year-old office coordinator at its Maui facility, according to a 2010 age discrimination lawsuit filed by the EEOC on behalf of Moreno.

Even though Moreno's supervisor praised her as a thorough and efficient worker, Frutoz-De Harne allegedly ordered that Moreno be fired after telling the manager that Moreno "looks old," "sounds old on the telephone," and is "like a bag of bones," the EEOC says in the release. Frutoz-De Harne also allegedly told the manager that Moreno was not the type of person she wanted representing her company. After the supervisor reported Frutoz-De Harne's comments to Moreno, Moreno filed a discrimination charge with the EEOC.

That's not all: The judgment also requires that the defendants prevent future age discrimination and retaliation by developing and disseminating procedures to address such claims, the EEOC says. And the agency must provide training for all staff on their rights with respect to age discrimination and retaliation, with additional training for supervisors on how to deal with complaints. The defendants also must retain an outside equal employment opportunity (EEO) coordinator to assist with these efforts and post a notice for employees regarding the judgment.

The HHA is also undergoing the bad press generated by a widely distributed Associated Press article on the settlement. "What makes this case especially appalling is the flagrant disregard for a worker's abilities, coupled with disparaging ageist remarks and thinking," Anna Y. Park, regional attorney for the EEOC's Los Angeles District Office, says in the release.

"When I learned that my age was the reason for the disparaging remarks and termination, I was embarrassed and demoralized," Moreno says. "The court's decision makes me feel optimistic and vindicated."