A federal jury this month awarded $20.5 million to a former employee of a home health care service’s State College area location after finding the business racially discriminated against her.
Patricia Holmes filed the lawsuit against Lincare subsidiary American HomePatient in 2021, alleging that she was subjected to repeated racial harassment by a manager and another employee during her time as a customer service representative at the business’s 2437 Commercial Boulevard location in College Township.
Holmes was the only Black employee at the facility during her tenure from October 2019 to July 2020, when she said the racial animosity became so hostile that she was concerned for her safety and resigned.
A supervisor and a co-worker used racial slurs, including the N-word, in conversations with her, according to the lawsuit.
Just two days after Holmes started working at American HomePatient, co-worker Beverly Hibbert mentioned that her grandchild is an “Oreo baby” as a defense for using the N-word, according to a court filing.
Later that month, Holmes was fitted by a respiratory therapist for an N-95 mask, a process that involved placing a white hood over her head. Manager Timothy McCoy said it was “ironic to see a Black person with a white hood over their head,” a comment the therapist told him was “awful.” He then asked others in the office to film the fitting because “it’s funny to see a white woman putting a hood on a Black woman’s head,” according to court documents.
The following month, McCoy told Holmes “out of the blue,” that his uncle has a dark skin complexion and because of that he has a nickname derived from a racial slur.
In March 2020, McCoy asked Holmes what she thought of the use of the N-word. After Holmes said it was “an ugly word that should not be used,” McCoy responded “well it does mean Black people,” according to a court filing. McCoy then Googled the word and showed his phone to Holmes. When Holmes pointed out that he misspelled the word, Hibbert chimed in with the correct spelling and emphasized the pronunciation. Both Hibbert and McCoy were laughing during the exchange, according to the document.
“That conduct is shocking,” U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann wrote in a 2023 opinion that allowed Holmes’ claim of a hostile workplace to proceed to trial. “And that it was delivered by Holmes’ supervisor makes the conduct all the more extreme since, as the Supreme Court has recognized, ‘acts of supervisors have greater power to alter the environment than acts of co-employees generally.’”
Holmes lodged a complaint with McCoy’s supervisor and a human resources employee the following day. McCoy was issued a written warning, the second lowest level of discipline, because he had no previous disciplinary actions and the company felt it could not prove malicious intent and that he could be coached to improve.
“But McCoy was laughing as his employee was humiliated with the use of one of the most offensive racial slurs contained in the English language, and could even be viewed as having encouraged the use of that slur,” Brann wrote in the 2023 opinion. “A jury could conclude that no reasonable person would view this behavior as anything other than malicious, and that AHP simply chose to ignore the severity of McCoy’s conduct.”
The investigation, however, found that “that this wasn’t uncommon behavior for” Hibbert and she was issued a final written warning, one step below termination. Hibbert was then fired after she placed tape over her mouth during a meeting, stating that it was “the only way she didn’t say anything to get in further trouble.” The company concluded that she “perpetuat[ed] the entire situation.”
Other employees also reported that McCoy created a difficult work environment. One said she was “so miserable” that she was “crying all the time” and ultimately resigned because of McCoy’s behavior and the behavior he allowed.
Another said the period during which Holmes experienced harassment was “honestly horrible” and that “it was just so awful at that time period to come to work.”
In the four months after McCoy was given a warning, Holmes says he yelled at her and another employee for being too sensitive, aggressively snatched papers out of her hands on two occasions and disparaged her job as “menial.”
Holmes resigned on July 7, 2020.
The eight-member, all-white jury found that American HomePatient/Lincare intentionally discriminated against Holmes by creating a hostile or abusive work environment because of her race; failed to exercise reasonable care to prevent or correct racial harassment in the workplace; acted with malice or reckless indifference to Holmes’ federally protected rights; and did not make a good faith attempt to comply with federal law.
In a statement to PennLive, American HomePatient wrote that the company “strongly disagrees with the verdict and especially disagrees with both the award and amount of punitive damages, which reflects a multiple of 40 times the compensatory damages. This type of award violates the 14th Amendment. Federal courts have held in the typical case the multiple for punitive damages should be no more than in the single digits.”
Holmes, who now resides in New Jersey, is also seeking $1.65 million in attorney fees and costs.
“Plaintiff litigated this case for three years and invested significant time, money, and emotional energy in her pursuit of justice,” attorney Thomas Anderson wrote in a petition filed on Thursday. “Plaintiff withstood lengthy discovery, an expensive failed mediation in Philadelphia, a motion for summary judgment, pretrial motions, and a trial to prevail.”
