On Friday a case was filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by a former employee against the Deveraux Advanced Behavioral Health Center. The case was filed regarding violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Pennsylvania Human Relations act due to race discrimination; the plaintiff alleged that different divisions that primarily served different racial groups received unequal resources.
The plaintiff was hired by the Deveraux Center as Program Director of Intellectual Disabilities and Mental Health, the complaint said. The plaintiff said he is African American and the department he directed primarily provided services to African-American clients. Another department, the Autism Spectrum Department, mainly provided services to Caucasian clients and had a director who was also Caucasian.
The plaintiff argued that the Autism department had more staffing support, despite serious patient control issues such as aggression and sexual assault amongst the clients of the Intellectual Disabilities department. The other department also received more assistance and attention from the main headquarters. After the plaintiff complained about these disparities, several inappropriate racial comments were made by an executive director.
The plaintiff also alleges that he was subject to unwarranted and disparate disciplinary actions. He was terminated with a cause given that one of plaintiff’s staff was late in submitting paperwork, despite chronic issues with the same cause in the Autism department, the complaint said.
According to court documents, the plaintiff is suing for violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and violations of the Pennsylvania Human Relations act. He is represented by Koller Law.
