Ex-Caritas Worker Files Bias Complaint
By Liz Kowalczyk
Boston Globe
February 1, 2007
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/02/01/woman_details_case_against_haddad/?page=full
A woman who worked for the state's largest Catholic hospital chain for 20 years has filed a sexual harassment complaint against the organization and a former chief executive, Dr. Robert Haddad, detailing behavior that she said occurred over 15 months and ended when she was laid off, allegedly in retaliation for complaining to hospital executives.
Haddad was forced to resign in May after four other women made similar accusations of sexual harassment. Judith Ann LaBelle, 52, who was director of security and communications at Caritas Holy Family Hospital in Methuen until March 2006, filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, which is investigating her charges. She also alleged age discrimination.
Her complaint provides the first detailed account of the harassment allegations against Haddad and depicts LaBelle's fear of losing her job if she confronted him.
She alleges that Haddad began harassing her at a meeting of executives in November 2004, when he repeatedly complimented her in front of the group.
After that, she alleges, Haddad frequently kissed and embraced her over a 15-month period, and to avoid him, she said she sometimes hid in the mailroom across the hall from her office. At times he asked in front of other employees whether she was "behaving herself," the complaint says.
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Chronology of the complaint Photo by The Globe Graphic |
LaBelle said that in March 2005, she spoke to three executives at Holy Family, including the hospital president, about Haddad's behavior. It is not clear what action they took, but LaBelle said Haddad continued to kiss and hug her after that time.
LaBelle filed the complaint two months ago against nine Caritas Christi Health Care system entities and executives, including Haddad, and Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley. She also said that on Nov. 30, 2005, after the cardinal gave a speech at Caritas Holy Family, O'Malley walked past Haddad with his arm around LaBelle and "holding me tightly close to him."
Haddad denied the allegations through a spokeswoman, who said yesterday that he never engaged in "any conduct that was offensive or unwelcoming" and that LaBelle never told him she objected to his behavior.
"Dr. Haddad is one of nine parties named in this broad-brush suit, and he denies the allegations," said a statement from his spokeswoman, Nancy Sterling. "We believe there are sufficient grounds for dismissal and have already notified MCAD that a motion to dismiss will be filed shortly."
Haddad has previously said that kisses and hugs among men and women are common in his Lebanese culture.
The Archdiocese of Boston, in a statement yesterday, said the parties are working with the commission.
"The Cardinal has no personal knowledge of the November 2005 incident alleged in the complaint," the statement said. "The Cardinal reiterates his commitment to providing all employees with a safe and appropriate workplace that is free of harassment."
LaBelle has hired a high-profile lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, who has represented more than 300 of the victims of sexual abuse by priests. He said that MCAD two weeks ago asked his client and the archdiocese if they would be willing to meet with a mediator. He said that LaBelle, who is seeking a monetary settlement, is willing to go to mediation under one condition: She will not sign a confidentiality agreement.
If mediation fails, he said, LaBelle will filed a lawsuit.
"She's upset," Garabedian said. "Her dignity, self-respect, and self-esteem were trampled on because the head of a large institution decided to take advantage of her and use her as a sexual object as he did other women."
LaBelle, through Garabedian, declined to speak with the Globe.
Haddad's departure last May ended an embarrassing episode for the cardinal and the archdiocese. Beginning last February, four women filed complaints about Haddad with the Caritas Christi human resources department, which senior vice president Helen Drinan investigated.
O'Malley learned about the allegations on April 24, and in May he decided to reprimand, rather than fire, Haddad. But after a Globe story about the decision led to more than 10 new accusations and a public outcry, the cardinal and the hospital's board of governor's forced Haddad to resign. None of these other women has been publicly identified.
In her complaint, LaBelle said that Haddad's harassment began several months after he was promoted in May 2004 to chief executive of Caritas Christi, a six-hospital system owned by the archdiocese that includes Holy Family.
In November of that year, LaBelle attended a meeting with about 25 other directors of telecommunications and patient registration at the hospitals. Haddad asked each person how he or she provided customer service. When her turn came, LaBelle said she had an "open door" policy at her office to encourage people to ask for help.
For the rest of the meeting, she said, Haddad paid her undue attention, repeatedly complimenting her and commenting to the group that he planned to visit Holy Family and check out her "open door."
Over the next 15 months, she said, Haddad visited Holy Family once or twice a month, when he would kiss her cheek, put his arm around her shoulders, draw her body against his body, and ask if she was behaving herself.
"On at least two occasions, Dr. Haddad attempted to kiss me on the lips, but I turned my head so that Dr. Haddad kissed my cheek," LaBelle wrote in her complaint. When she knew he was planning to visit Holy Family, she said she felt "self-consciousness, anxiety, discomfort, disgust, loss of dignity, and dread."
In March, 2005, LaBelle said she told Martha McDrury, then Holy Family's chief operating officer, and Sabrina Granville, vice president of human resources, that she planned to speak to the hospital's president, Peter Holden, about Haddad's behavior. Holden resigned last fall, and McDrury is now interim chief executive. McDrury and Granville, through a hospital spokeswoman, declined to comment on the case because it's a legal matter.
LaBelle said she described Haddad's behavior to Holden and told him she was scared about losing her job.
Holden, she said, agreed to make a complaint from an anonymous Holy Family employee to Caritas Christi's chief operating officer, Richard Cunningham. It's not known whether Holden spoke to Cunningham.
Reached at his home yesterday, Holden said he could not comment on the case.
LaBelle alleged that Haddad's behavior continued after she reported it. In November 2005, she said, McDrury told her that LaBelle was being considered for a corporate security job at Caritas because Haddad wanted her near him. That promotion apparently never happened.
And, in March of last year, Holden and Granville told LaBelle that her job was being eliminated as part of a workforce reduction of 50 employees.
The internal Caritas investigation of Haddad had begun a month earlier, and Garabedian said he believes her job was cut to prevent the number of women filing complaints against Haddad from expanding.
Garabedian said his client, who now has another job, wants Caritas to reimburse her for lost wages and benefits, among other damages, and she wants "a sincere apology from Cardinal O'Malley."
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