EEOC Sues HCA Healthcare and Two of its Divisions for Race, National Origin, Age Discrimination and Retaliation

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – HCA Healthcare, Inc. (and its divisions Tennessee Healthcare Management, Inc. and GME Overhead), a for-profit corporation headquartered in Nashville, providing graduate medical education in over 2,300 health care facilities, violated federal law by refusing to promote an employee because of his age, race and national origin, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today. HCA Healthcare also violated the law when it fired him in retaliation for complaining internally to his employer about the discrimination, the EEOC said.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, an Asian American employee alleged that HCA Healthcare denied him a promotion in favor of a younger, underqualified white candidate. The EEOC said that the candidate HCA Healthcare ultimately selected for the promotion did not meet the minimum qualifications required for the position. According to the EEOC, however, the Asian American employee did meet all necessary minimum qualifications.

The employee further alleged that after learning of the stark differences in qualifications between himself and the candidate, he complained to his employer about the perceived discrimination. After the employee complained, HCA Healthcare retaliated in the form of write-ups, berating him, and, ultimately, termination.       

Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers from discriminating against employees because of their race or national origin and retaliating because the employee opposed discrimination by complaining. The alleged conduct also violates the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, which forbids age discrimination against people who are aged 40 or older

The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. HCA Healthcare, Inc. et al., Civil Action No. 3:23-cv-00777) in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, Nashville Division, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. The EEOC seeks injunctive relief prohibiting the defendants from discriminating against their employees because of age, race, and national origin, and from retaliating against employees in the future, as well as monetary relief.

According to its website, HCA Healthcare, Inc. owns and operates over 100 hospitals and approximately 2,000 sites of care, including surgery centers, freestanding emergency rooms, urgent care centers and physician clinics in over 20 states and the United Kingdom. HCA Healthcare employs over 275,000 people.

For more information on race and color discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/racecolor-discrimination. For more information on national origin discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/national-origin-discrimination. For more information on age discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/age-discrimination. For more information on retaliation, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/retaliation.

The EEOC advances opportunity in the workplace by enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. More information is available at www.eeoc.gov. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.