Denture chain to pay $150K in harassment suit

Aug 3, 2010

Affordable Care, a national denture provider, will pay $150,000 and furnish other relief to settle a sex and race discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced August 2.

The lawsuit, filed in March 2009 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in Springfield, charged that Affordable Care violated federal law when its affiliated dentist, Nelson Wood, D.M.D., sexually and racially harassed two female employees.

According to the EEOC's lawsuit, Affordable Care and Dr. Wood created a "sexually and racially hostile work environment" for Ariede Mills, who is black, and Laura Carl, who is white, at its office in West Springfield, MA.

Among other things, Dr. Wood allegedly referred to women as "whining b-----s," propositioned Mills for sex, spanked Carl repeatedly on the buttocks, made insulting remarks about blacks, and claimed that he had a relative who was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, the EEOC said.

Both Mills and Carl complained repeatedly about Dr. Wood to Affordable Care, which is headquartered in North Carolina, but the company failed to stop the harassment, the EEOC said. The EEOC also charged that Mills was fired in retaliation for her complaints, and that Carl was forced to quit because of the offensive conduct.

The settlement provides $75,000 each to Mills and Carl, the EEOC said. In addition, it enjoins Affordable Care and Wood from further discriminating on the basis of sex and race; creates an independent EEO coordinator to receive and investigate complaints of discrimination and retaliation at Affordable Care's dental practices; mandates training on the requirements of antidiscrimination laws; and requires the issuance of a new antidiscrimination policy and the posting of a notice regarding the settlement.

"This case is a reminder that the EEOC will not allow a company like Affordable Care to escape liability for the actions of its affiliated entities when it maintains control over those operations," said Spencer H. Lewis Jr., director of the EEOC's New York District Office, in a press release.

Affordable Care worked cooperatively with the EEOC to resolve this case with minimal litigation, according to Markus Penzel, EEOC senior trial attorney. "We believe that the relief provided in the consent decree will help prevent what happened to Ms. Mills and Ms. Carl from happening to others in the future," he said.

Affordable Care is a dental services organization currently supporting more than 150 affiliated practices in over 35 states in the U.S.