Santa Fe, NM — Christus Health, doing business as Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe, NM, violated federal law by subjecting a deaf laboratory technician to disability discrimination, including harassment, and retaliation, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit. According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, Asheley Coriz’s supervisor repeatedly harassed her during training by repeatedly yelling at her, “I’ve already told you how to do that once.” Rather than addressing her training requests, Christus St. Vincent fired her because of her disability and her requests for accommodation, blaming her instead for supposedly not getting trained fast enough. Coriz was also fired in retaliation for her opposing the disability discrimination, the EEOC said. Such alleged conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits discrimination based on disability, as well as retaliation for reporting the discriminatory workplace conduct. The EEOC filed suit, EEOC v Christus Health d/b/a Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, Civil Action No. 1:19-cv-00764 in U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico after first attempting to reach a settlement through its pre-litigation conciliation process. The lawsuit seeks back pay, compensatory damages and punitive damages for the charging party as well as appropriate injunctive relief to prevent discriminatory practices in the future.
