Henry Ford Health Hit with Class Action Over Alleged Age, Disability Discrimination

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A proposed class action claims Henry Ford Health and Henry Ford Medical Group discriminate against employees over the age of 70 by requiring them to undergo a cognition screening despite having no “reasonable basis” to perform such an evaluation.

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The 16-page case explains that the healthcare organization, as of July 2017, has enforced a senior and bioscientific staff “fitness for duty” policy whereby employees who have reached 70 must complete a “screening assessment for cognition.” For Henry Ford Medical Group employees over 75 years old, the evaluation is performed annually, the lawsuit says.

The complaint relays that employees who require further evaluation must see an “independent assessor” for a full fitness-for-duty evaluation, and staff who fail to comply with the age-based screening requirement must voluntarily resign or be terminated, the case states.

According to the filing, Henry Ford Health and Henry Ford Medical Group have run afoul of the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act by “limiting, segregating, or classifying” employees due to their ages in a way that would deprive them of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect their status as employees.

The plaintiff, an 84-year-old ophthalmologist who has worked for Henry Ford Health since 1995, says she has been required to attend an annual cognition assessment solely because she was over 75 years old when the defendants began enforcing the fitness-for-duty policy.

Henry Ford Health and Henry Ford Medical Group, in apparent violation of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, subjected the plaintiff and other similarly situated employees to medical examinations without having a “reasonable basis” for believing that they were “unable to perform the essential functions of their jobs or that they posed a direct threat to their own safety or the safety of others,” the case alleges.

Finally, the complaint accuses the defendants of violating the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act by subjecting employees to a “prohibited acquisition” of genetic information.

The case contends that the companies’ unlawful discrimination based on age, disability and genetic information has caused employees “emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, [and] mental anguish.”

The lawsuit looks to represent current and former employees who were subject to the Henry Ford Medical Group senior and bioscientific staff fitness-for-duty policy.

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