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Woman says she faced discrimination at medical office
Allan Drury
adrury@lohud.com
A former medical assistant at The Mount Pleasant Medical Group in Valhalla alleges in a lawsuit she endured racial slurs such as "n———" and "monkey" until she quit her job in March.
Tenisha Robinson, 23, said she complained repeatedly about the treatment. But after complaining, she was given a more difficult work schedule than other medical assistants, she and her lawyer, Anthony Carabba Jr., said in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in White Plains.
Robinson, who is black and of Jamaican descent, named four physicians as defendants. They are Drs. Adam Whitehead, Allan Lind, Andrew Lowe and Mitchell Fenster. She also named her supervisor, Doris Masback, the practice manager; and Caroline Cammarata, identified in the lawsuit as a manager.
The 23-page lawsuit says that on one occasion Cammarata, seeing Robinson try to reach a file high on a bookshelf, said: "Jamaicans are like monkeys. They swing off trees." On another occasion, Cammarata said she would disown her daughter if her daughter married Robinson's son because "I get enough n——-s here (and) I don't need any more in my life," the lawsuit says.
A person who answered the phone at the medical group yesterday said Cammarata no longer works there. She could not be reached for comment.
Greg Riolo, a White Plains-based lawyer who represents the medical group, said the group denies that Robinson faced any discrimination or retaliation for complaining. He would not say why Cammarata left.
Robinson, who began working at the practice in July 2007, said in the lawsuit that a colleague named Donna noticed the treatment and tried to comfort her by telling her "Not all white people behave like this" and by showing her a picture of her white son with his best friend, who is black.
When Robinson complained to Fenster, the physician told her that Lowe had spoken to Cammarata, but that Cammarata did not understand her conduct was wrong, according to the lawsuit.
Robinson is asking the court to award $10 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
Allan Drury
adrury@lohud.com
A former medical assistant at The Mount Pleasant Medical Group in Valhalla alleges in a lawsuit she endured racial slurs such as "n———" and "monkey" until she quit her job in March.
Tenisha Robinson, 23, said she complained repeatedly about the treatment. But after complaining, she was given a more difficult work schedule than other medical assistants, she and her lawyer, Anthony Carabba Jr., said in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in White Plains.
Robinson, who is black and of Jamaican descent, named four physicians as defendants. They are Drs. Adam Whitehead, Allan Lind, Andrew Lowe and Mitchell Fenster. She also named her supervisor, Doris Masback, the practice manager; and Caroline Cammarata, identified in the lawsuit as a manager.
The 23-page lawsuit says that on one occasion Cammarata, seeing Robinson try to reach a file high on a bookshelf, said: "Jamaicans are like monkeys. They swing off trees." On another occasion, Cammarata said she would disown her daughter if her daughter married Robinson's son because "I get enough n——-s here (and) I don't need any more in my life," the lawsuit says.
A person who answered the phone at the medical group yesterday said Cammarata no longer works there. She could not be reached for comment.
Greg Riolo, a White Plains-based lawyer who represents the medical group, said the group denies that Robinson faced any discrimination or retaliation for complaining. He would not say why Cammarata left.
Robinson, who began working at the practice in July 2007, said in the lawsuit that a colleague named Donna noticed the treatment and tried to comfort her by telling her "Not all white people behave like this" and by showing her a picture of her white son with his best friend, who is black.
When Robinson complained to Fenster, the physician told her that Lowe had spoken to Cammarata, but that Cammarata did not understand her conduct was wrong, according to the lawsuit.
Robinson is asking the court to award $10 million in compensatory and punitive damages.