A firm providing management and consulting for nursing homes across four Southern states successfully argued for the dismissal of legal discrimination claims brought against it by nine Black nursing home workers.
The plaintiffs are current and former employees of Florala Health and Rehabilitation in Florala, AL — for which NHS Management provided consulting services during the timeframe relevant to the case. The workers claimed that the firm should have corrected what they described as a toxically racist workplace environment at the nursing home.
The plaintiffs alleged an ongoing pattern of racial harassment from other staff members and from residents of Florala Health. Some alleged incidents included repeated use of racial slurs and epithets, disparaging comments about the workers’ physical traits and a coworker pulling a plaintiff’s hair. Black workers also were allegedly more likely to be assigned difficult and undesirable work, and mistreatment extended often to Black residents.
The claims against NHS Management were entirely dismissed in a ruling signed Monday by Judge R. Austin Huffaker Jr. of the US District Court for the Middle District of Alabama. The ruling explains that the contract between the two companies plainly absolves the management firm of responsibility for day-to-day supervision.
“The contract is clear,” Huffaker wrote. “It never mentions Plaintiffs, places supervision of [Florala Health’s] employees and agents directly and solely in [Florala Health’s] hands and expressly contemplates that [Florala Health] shall indemnify and hold harmless NHS for any litigation.”
The majority of the claims of racial discrimination against Florala Health were allowed to advance, although one plaintiff was dismissed from the case since all counts that involved her were dismissed.
NHS Management and Florala Health continue to deny the merit of allegations, according to Joe Perkins, a spokesman for the two organizations.
“Florala Health and Rehabilitation and NHS continue to deny all allegations,” he told McKnight’s Long-Term Care News Wednesday. “On Tuesday, the US District Court of the Middle District of Alabama dismissed NHS from the lawsuit entirely. The court also dismissed some of the complaints against Florala Health and Rehabilitation and dismissed one of the plaintiffs from the case. The attorneys for Florala Health and Rehabilitation are still assessing the impact of the court’s ruling and maintain their position that the allegations against the facility are without legal merit.”
