Flushing Manor Geriatric Center Inc.

Queens, NY: (Apr-24-07) The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed charges against Flushing Manor Geriatric Center Inc., a Queens based nursing home, accusing it of discriminating against 29 current and former employees because of their race and national origin. The suit claimed that the nursing home permitted some managers and residents there to utter racial slurs directed at Jamaican and Haitian workers. When the workers filed complaints, they faced retaliation and a hostile work environment. The lawsuit also contended that the facility's managers prohibited Haitian workers from speaking in their native Creole even as other non-English speaking groups were allowed to converse in their native languages. The federal commission filed the class action on behalf of five employees in 2005 in US District Court in Brooklyn. The number of plaintiffs later grew to 29, all of whom will be covered by the settlement. In a settlement, Flushing Manor agreed to pay $900,000 to settle the claim, the amount includes compensatory damages and back pay. [NEWSDAY: EMPLOYEE DISCRIMINATION SETTLEMENT]