[Marxism] Ford suit poised to be biggest ever

["Charles Brown" <cbrown@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ford suit poised to be biggest ever

The chart above represents relevant White/Black comparisons
<http://www.michigancitizen.com/clients/michigancitizen/9-9-2004-3-49-01-PM-
3765466.gif>
        
The chart above represents relevant White/Black comparisons     
By Bankole Thompson
The Michigan Citizen

Should U.S. federal court Judge Avern Cohn certify the class action lawsuit
against Henry Ford Hospital for allegedly discriminating against Blacks, it
could mean the biggest class action lawsuit in the state.

It is estimated that at least about 3,000 present and former employees of
the hospital could come forward to testify against the hospital.

The hearing, slated for Sept. 22, will mark a twist in the protracted legal
battle brought against the hospital by Sommers, Schwartz, Silver and
Schwartz, the biggest plaintiff law firm in Michigan.

At the heart of the legal fight is Henry Ford Hospital's alleged refusal to
implement a mandatory affirmative action program. Executive Order 11246
signed by president Lyndon Johnson requires health systems that benefit from
federal programs to implement such programs.

In a sworn affidavit recently filed in court, Dr. Malcolm Cohen, an
employment research specialist hired by the plaintiff's attorneys, said that
from April 10, 1999 through Aug. 31, 2002, in the job groups he analyzed,
282 African Americans were involuntarily terminated, compared with 89
whites.

"Seventy-six percent of all employees involuntarily terminated were African
Americans. During this period, only 52 percent of all employees were African
American," he said.

Cohen, who once worked for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, said that
from April 10, 1999 to Dec. 31, 2000, Blacks were terminated at a
"statistically significantly higher rate in three of the ten groups that had
sufficient observations to run the Fisher Exact Test."

He said the Fisher Exact Test is used to determine whether an employee was
terminated independent of their race.

Dr. Michael Ward, an expert employment statistician hired by Henry Ford,
criticized Cohen's research "for combining terminations that occurred over
different years."

But Cohen said the hospital provided him with incomplete data he believed
was false.

"The defendant's failure to provide complete data makes it impossible for me
to render an opinion to a reasonable degree of economic certainty, as to
whether there is a statistically significant difference in the treatment of
Black versus white applicants for promotions," Cohen said.

Court records show that data provided by the hospital concerning its job
promotions in 2000 reveal the 1,170 African Americans employed there were
adversely impacted.

Johnson's Executive Order calls for "the promotion and insuring of equal
opportunity for all persons, without regard to race, color, religion, sex,
or national origin, employed or seeking employment with Government
contractors or with contractors performing under federally assisted
construction contracts."

"There is no evidence of any discriminatory practices at the hospital,"
Dwight Angell of the hospital's public affairs office said.

Angell said the hospital's own 2000 report on promotions, which shows
growing disparities between Blacks and whites in terms of promotions, "was
completed inaccurately because of the use of mistaken data."

"African Americans were promoted at all levels at almost precisely the rates
statistically expected," he said.

Angell said the hospital is committed to diversity.

"Henry Ford Hospital actively pursues minority vendor contracts as a major
part of its outside purchase programs," he said.

Past court records show that some managers, supervisors and other senior
officials said in depositions they were never informed about the hospital's
affirmative action program or told to implement them.

Dr. Raymond Demers, then head of the cancer center, testified under oath
that he did not recall being asked to implement an affirmative action
program.

Neither Dr. Demers nor other senior officials would be faulted for taking
action where none was required, Angell said.

A 1999 Ford Employment Data indicated African Americans are in the lowest
paying jobs. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs faulted the
hospital for not implementing its affirmative action program.

Angell said that was because of "technical deficiencies rather than claims
of discrimination or assertions of unlawful employment practices."

E-mail: bthompson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


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