GRAND RAPIDS (AP) — An appeals court has upheld a decision that kills a discrimination lawsuit filed by black home health care workers who were told they couldn’t take care of a white patient.
The court recently agreed with a Grand Rapids federal judge who said the women waited too long to file a lawsuit against Spectrum Health.
Judge Robert Holmes Bell also found that the women couldn’t demonstrate a “long-standing ... policy of discrimination” that would let the case go forward.
The women are two certified nursing assistants and a home health aide.
They were assigned to provide care to a white man who suffered from brain injuries. But in spring 2012, the patient’s guardian told Spectrum Health that no black employees should be assigned to the man.
- Posted May 27, 2015
- Tweet This | Share on Facebook
Black health workers lose appeal over treating white patient

headlines Macomb
headlines National
- ACLU and BigLaw firm use ‘Orange is the New Black’ in hashtag effort to promote NY jail reform
- Judge accused of using ‘game or jail’ tactic, asserting abuse victims get ‘Super Bowl’ neurochemicals
- Prosecutor gets suspension for invading jury’s ‘inner sanctum’
- Lateral hiring bounced back in 2024, especially for associates in BigLaw, new NALP report says
- Refugee ban can’t be enforced against those who received conditional approval, 9th Circuit says
- ABA, more than 50 bar associations condemn ‘government actions that seek to twist the scales of justice’