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	New Allegations of Harassment against Caritas Hospital Chief By Mark Jewell The Associated Press, carried in Times Leader May 22, 2006 http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/14642067.htm BOSTON - The head of eastern Massachusetts' Roman Catholic hospital system faced new allegations of sexual harassment Monday after he was reprimanded but not fired by the Archdiocese of Boston amid reports of unwanted hugging and kissing of female employees - complaints he says are rooted in cultural misunderstanding. In response, Cardinal Sean O'Malley asked the governing board of Caritas Christi Health Care to meet again Wednesday to reconsider its response to the allegations against Dr. Robert M. Haddad, president and chief executive of the network of six hospitals and 12,000 employees. In a statement, the archdiocese said, "New complaints of misconduct involving Dr. Robert Haddad have been received and are being investigated." Haddad, who is of Lebanese descent, said Monday a cultural misunderstanding was at issue. "In my Lebanese culture, hugs and kisses among men and women are not only expected, but warmly given and received," the 52-year-old executive said in his first public statement on the allegations. He said he was "stunned to learn that some of my actions may have been misinterpreted; at no time was I aware of making anyone uncomfortable. "And although I have never acted inappropriately, I deeply regret causing anyone any discomfort." He said he been an effective leader, and concluded the statement by saying he was "committed to continuing to lead Caritas through this challenging period." Before the statements from the archdiocese and Haddad were issued, Helen Drinan, Caritas' executive vice president for human resources, said her office had received "several" new reports Monday from female Caritas employees alleging they also were subjected to advances by Haddad. "I think people are reading about this in the newspaper, and people who have had their own similar personal experiences with him now feel safe and are reporting this to staff at human resources," said Karen Schwartzman, a spokeswoman for Drinan. O'Malley's request for a second board meeting came the day after The Boston Sunday Globe published a story about the allegations. The archdiocese subsequently confirmed that O'Malley gave Haddad a "stern reprimand" after the Caritas board recommended the move last Thursday and found Haddad had violated state and federal employment law. The decision to not fire Haddad has been harshly criticized by Drinan - who took the initial complaints that led to the investigation - and others who compare the situation to the archdiocese's initial response to reports of sexual abuse of children by priests. Schwartzman said Drinan documented cases in which at least four other lower-level male Caritas employees were fired after they faced allegations involving single instances of harassment - information she says she gave the archdiocese before the board's meeting, but didn't reach board members before their disciplinary meeting. "If this situation is somehow different from all the other situations in which employees have been terminated, someone should stand up and say how it differs," Schwartzman said. David Mandel, an employment law attorney hired by the archdiocese to assist the investigation, said Drinan's information lacked sufficient detail to present to the board. The information also wasn't presented because it largely involved cases in which employees were fired, rather than merely warned, Mandel said. The archdiocese says O'Malley was notified late last month of allegations against Haddad from two women. O'Malley then hired an outside investigator, Jean Musiker. She interviewed the women whose complaints were made to Caritas human resources in early February and in early March, respectively, and learned of two other women with complaints, the archdiocese said. Mandel confirmed to The Associated Press on Monday that Musiker's report referred to harassment complaints from other women besides the initial four, and that Haddad had acknowledged to an investigator that he had engaged in hugging and kissing with women other than the four. That information was reported in a Globe story Monday. Two other outside legal counselors reviewed Musiker's findings, and O'Malley and the Caritas board consulted with those two before deciding to reprimand Haddad rather than fire him, Mandel said. Haddad also was directed to take sexual harassment sensitivity training, and told he would be fired if there were another credible harassment complaint. He promised that it would not happen again. Drinan wrote an e-mail to the Caritas board in which she warned the panel about "what will befall this organization when the public learns that the church in Boston has once again put the powerful predator ahead of the powerless victim. It is only a matter of time before this happens." O'Malley was installed as Boston's bishop in 2003 to help the archdiocese heal after a widespread clergy sexual abuse scandal. Besides leading Caritas, Haddad is an associate clinical professor of medicine at Tufts University, and previously served 18 years in the Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania.
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