Affordable Care, Inc., a national denture provider, will
pay $150,000 and furnish other relief to settle a sex and race
discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC), the agency announced. The lawsuit, filed in
March 2009 in federal court in Springfield, Mass., charged that
Affordable Care violated federal law when its affiliated dentist,
Nelson Wood, sexually and racially harassed two female employees.
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, Kinston, N.C.-based Affordable Care
and Nelson Wood, operating as Nelson Wood, DMD, PC, created a sexually
and racially hostile work environment for Ariede Mills, who is African
American, and Laura Carl, who is white, at its office in West
Springfield. The lawsuit alleged that, among other things, Wood
referred to women as “whining b-----s,” propositioned Mills for sex,
spanked Carl repeatedly on the buttocks, made insulting remarks about
blacks, and claimed that he had a relative who was a member of the Ku
Klux Klan. Both Mills and Carl complained repeatedly about Wood to
Affordable Care, which is headquartered in North Carolina, but the
company failed to stop the harassment. The EEOC also charged that Mills
was fired in retaliation for her complaints, and that Carl was forced
to quit because of the offensive conduct.
The settlement provides $75,000 each to Mills and Carl. In addition
to the monetary payments, the consent decree resolving the litigation
(Civil Action No. 1:09-cv-10399), approved by Judge Michael Ponsor
today, enjoins Affordable Care and Wood from further discriminating on
the basis of sex and race; creates an independent EEO coordinator to
receive and investigate complaints of discrimination and retaliation at
Affordable Care’s dental practices; mandates training on the
requirements of anti-discrimination laws; and requires the issuance of
a new anti-discrimination policy and the posting of a notice regarding
the settlement.