Shervin v. Partner Healthcare System, Inc., (Summary)

DISCRIMINATION

Shervin v. Partner Healthcare System, Inc., No. 10-cv-10601 (D. Mass. Mar. 7, 2014)

The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts denied in part and allowed in part a Motion for Summary Judgment filed by a health care system, a physician organization, Harvard medical school and the president and Fellows.  Plaintiff, a resident surgeon, brought suit against her two supervisors and their employers, defendants, for gender discrimination under federal and state law and for tortious interference under state law. During her residency, she was placed on disciplinary probation, which she alleged was due to her not fitting into her gender stereotype.  After the residency and fellowship, defendants “revoked” their employment offer to plaintiff.  Plaintiff alleges (1) she was discriminated against, (2) she was retaliated against due to her complaints of gender discrimination, and (3) defendants tortiously interfered with her employment opportunities due to the complaints.

The district court held that the plaintiff was aware that placing her on probation was a distinct adverse employment action, and her federal and state law claims of gender discrimination were barred by the statute of limitations. The district court held that a jury could reasonably find that not offering future employment was retaliatory because defendants’ conduct could causally be connected to plaintiff’s complaints. Lastly, the district court held that due to contradicting evidence, a jury must make the determination of whether defendants tortiously interfered with plaintiff’s employment offer. However, one of the defendants, Partners Healthcare System, succeeded in showing that it was immune from the state law claim because it is a charitable organization and the cause of action arose from regularly conducted business activities.