Abington Memorial Hospital faces claims of gender bias by former staff accountant

A former accountant for Abington Memorial Hospital is suing the

Montgomery County-based medical facility over claims that higher-ups failed to investigate the plaintiff was allegedly being mistreated by a supervisor because of her gender.

Mary Grace DeSantis, who is a resident of Montgomery County, alleges in her federal lawsuit, filed Oct. 17 in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia by Glenside, Pa. lawyer Gerald R. Clarke, that the defendant failed to take action after DeSantis complained numerous times about the mistreatment by a man identified as Judson Erick.

Erick served as the plaintiff’s direct supervisor from May 2011 until the end of her employment.

DeSantis started working for the hospital in January 2007 and she ended her employment in the spring of 2012, the record shows.

The complaint alleges that Erick showed bias toward female employees, including DeSantis, since the beginning of his employment with the hospital.

With respect to the plaintiff, Erick was often verbally abusive, he was dismissive and unresponsive to concerns and suggestions made by DeSantis, and he belittled and humiliated the plaintiff on various occasions, the lawsuit states.

The complaint says that Erick would also require female finance department employees exempt from the wage and hour law, and instructed the women to use paid time off on occasions where they left work early.

He would apparently not require the same of male employees, the suit alleges.

The suit also alleges that male employees in the finance department with similar experience as female employees typically earn a larger salary.

DeSantis claims that Erick ended up hiring a man to serve as the senior accountant, a position that Erick made clear he would not consider a woman for despite qualifications.

Women, including the plaintiff, complained about the discriminatory and sexist treatment at the hands of Erick to the hospital’s controller, identified as Ronald Fabrizio, but no action on the part of management was ever taken to address the complaints, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit accuses the defendant of violating the federal Civil Rights Act and the Equal Pay Act, as well as Pennsylvania’s Equal Pay Law and the state Human Relations Act.

DeSantis seeks unspecified compensatory damages, punitive damages, interest, costs and attorney’s fees.

 

The federal case number is 2:13-cv-06067-CDJ.