NEW ORLEANS – A lab technician is taking Ochsner Health Systems to court over what she claims was a hiring bias against her due to prior Equal Employment Opportunity Commission activities.
Michele Lewis filed a lawsuit Feb. 8 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana against Ochsner, stating that the lab refused to hire due to her EEOC claims against her former employer.
Lewis alleges to have applied for five positions, related to her field and some more than once, at two of Ochsner’s campuses. Lewis asserts that she was a former lead sterile processing technician at Integrated Medical Systems (IMS) when she was terminated for an alleged no-call/no-show. She attests that she filed two EEOC charges against IMS and it was those filings which has prevented her from finding a position at Ochsner.
She alleges that the positions for which she applied were similar or nearly identical to the position she held at IMS. More specifically, Lewis alleges that Elisha Bolden and Jourdan Michel, Ochsner employees, have consistently rejected her applications because of her EEOC claims. The positions for which she applied allegedly went to individuals who Lewis claims had little prior experience in the lab.
Lewis is now suing for all legal and equitable relief such as back and front pay, loss of benefits, emotional distress, damages, interests, cost of the suit and attorney fees. She is asking for a jury trial and is represented by J. Courtney Wilson in Metairie.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana Case number 2:16-cv-01171-NJB-MBN