Salamon v. Our Lady of Victory Hosp. (Summary)

TITLE VII/EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION

Salamon v. Our Lady of Victory Hosp., No. 1:99-cv-00048-WMS (W.D. N.Y. Apr. 3, 2012)

The United States District Court for the Western District of New York denied a hospital’s motion for summary judgment in a Title VII lawsuit brought by a female physician who had privileges at the hospital and was a member of its medical staff, concluding there was an issue of fact regarding whether the physician was an “employee” of the hospital.

The hospital argued that Title VII only applies to employees and that the physician was not an employee of the hospital.  The court found that there were issues of fact surrounding the plaintiff physician’s employment status, including the amount of control the hospital exercised over the physician’s practice.  The court observed that the hospital’s quality assurance and peer review process went beyond simply monitoring patient outcomes and injected itself into the physician’s practice by requiring her to undergo “reeducation and mentoring” related to appropriate treatment, length of procedures, and level of sedation.  The court also concluded that there were issues related to the hospital’s control over the physician’s schedule for performing procedures at the hospital and the hospital’s role in hiring nurses and others who assisted the physician in the hospital, and at times supervised and reported on her work.