[R]UTLAND — A former Rutland Regional Medical Center employee who alleged racial harassment, including the hanging of a noose in a room where he worked, has dropped his lawsuit.
A recent one-paragraph filing by the parties provides little insight into the reason for the dismissal of the case and how much money, if any, Roger Speid received. He was a licensed nursing assistant at the hospital.
“Now come the parties and hereby stipulate and agree … that any and all claims by and between all parties shall be dismissed with prejudice, each party to bear its own costs and attorney fees,” the filing stated.
“The parties have reached a resolution out of court, and I can’t comment any further,” Harlow said Monday.
Patrick Bernal, an attorney with the Manchester firm of Woolmington, Campbell, Bernal & Bent, represented Speid in the lawsuit. Bernal could not be reached Monday for comment.
When the case was filed last year, Bernal told VTDigger, “Vermont is a state that prides itself on embracing diversity. … What happened here challenges those notions. It challenges the way we think of ourselves.”
Speid’s lawsuit included claims of a hostile work environment, unlawful retaliation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent supervision, training and retention.
The hospital denied those allegations, calling them “meritless” in one court filing.
Brian Kerns, Rutland Regional Medical Center’s vice president of human resources, issued a statement Monday, saying the hospital has “strict policies” prohibiting workplace discrimination.
“We take this responsibility very seriously, and we strive to ensure that the Rutland Regional Medical Center is a place where all people feel welcomed, without regard to race, gender, age or any other protected characteristic,” the statement read.
“While we are unable to provide comment regarding this matter, we are proud of all that we do to promote a safe, healthy and inclusive environment for our staff, patients, volunteers and anyone else who comes to Rutland Regional.”
Speid, who is black, was born in Jamaica, and at the time of the filing of his lawsuit last year had lived in Vermont for more than a dozen years.
He worked at RRMC for five years. During that time, according to his lawsuit, he was subjected to racial jokes and harassment from co-workers and supervisors.
For example, according to court records, Speid alleged that co-workers were supportive of President-elect Donald Trump and that employees would “frequently voice their support for Mr. Trump’s instigation of the so-called ‘birther’ controversy, which questioned President Obama’s legitimacy to serve as President, and which many people believe had racial undertones.”
It was a fellow worker whom Speid later talked to about it who took the noose down, according to the lawsuit.
Speid, according to the complaint, often had to go into that room while the noose was there and get items from behind the door.
According to a court filing, the hospital disputed Speid’s version of the event. A document submitted on the hospital’s behalf stated that it was another employee who reported a rope in the telemetry room, and that a supervisor addressed it the same day.
The supervisor removed the rope, which the hospital’s filing stated “was not in the form of a noose,” and confirmed with Speid “that he and his co-worker were fine and that they requested no further action.”
It wasn’t long after that incident, the lawsuit stated, that Speid’s relationship with two of his co-workers deteriorated, with dueling claims of slacking off on the job.
Each of the co-workers complained about Speid to a supervisor, alleging that Speid threatened them, according to the suit. Speid denies the allegations.
The supervisor told Speid to leave the hospital immediately after hearing from the two co-workers, but without taking a statement from him, according to his complaint.
The lawsuit stated that although he agreed to go, security guards were ordered to escort him out. The filing added that Speid believed the security guards were sent “based on the stereotypical belief that black men have a propensity for violence.”
On Nov. 6, 2015, Speid was notified by human resources at the hospital that he had been placed on leave pending an investigation into his alleged threatening behavior. Then, on Nov. 25, he received a letter from the hospital stating the investigation was “complete” and he was dismissed, the lawsuit stated.
