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	Cardinal Calls for Meeting on Caritas President By Walter V. Robinson Boston Globe May 22, 2006 http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/05/22/ cardinal_calls_for_meeting_on_caritas_president/?p1=MEWell_Pos1 BOSTON --The Archdiocese of Boston confirmed this afternoon that it has received fresh complaints of sexual misconduct against Dr. Robert M. Haddad, the embattled president of Caritas Christi Health Care System. As a result, Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley has called a special meeting of the Caritas governing board for 7 p.m. Wednesday to consider the new complaints of misconduct. Last Thursday, at O'Malley's urging, the board agreed to reprimand Haddad for sexually harassing four women subordinates, despite a recommendation from Caritas' senior vice president for human resources, Helen G. Drinan, that Haddad be fired for the behavior. In a statement given to the Globe, the archdiocese said: "Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley today asked the chairman of the board of governors of Caritas Christi Health Care System to convene a meeting of the full board on Wednesday this week. New complaints of misconduct involving Dr. Robert Haddad have been received and are being investigated." The Globe reported Sunday that O'Malley had issued a "stern reprimand" to Haddad last week after an investigation by outside counsel had concluded that Haddad had hugged or kissed four hospital system employees. The archdiocese said in a statement that Haddad had agreed to enroll in sexual harassment sensitivity training, and that any repeat occurrence or retaliatory action would result in his dismissal. The governing board of the church's sprawling healthcare system, with six acute-care hospitals and 12,000 employees, voted unanimously on Thursday, with one abstention, to endorse the cardinal's sanction. That action came despite a May 8 letter from Drinan to O'Malley in which she wrote that Caritas had always fired other employees who have engaged in similar behavior. She also advised the cardinal that she and Jean Musiker, an outside lawyer brought in to conduct an independent inquiry, both had concluded that Haddad had violated federal workplace law as well as the written sexual harassment prohibitions of Caritas Christi. Drinan elaborated on Haddad's behavior in an email to the board on Friday, writing that he "hugs subordinate female employees, kisses them on the lips, rubs them on the back, calls them late at night, and asks them about matters that are highly personal to them." Stephen B. Perlman, the cardinal's outside counsel on the issue, said, however, that Haddad's behavior did not warrant termination. He said terminations of other employees cited by Drinan were not justified and that he did not consider Haddad's actions to be illegal. The archdiocese provided no details on the new complaints. But the Globe reported this morning that Haddad had admitted to an investigator for the archdiocese that he had hugged and kissed others in addition to the four initial complainants, and that witnesses had supplied names of more women they had seen Haddad hugging or kissing. In addition, David M. Mandel, an employment law specialists working for the archdiocese, said the archdiocese is investigating reports that Haddad "leered and winked" at one of the four victims when the investigation was ongoing.
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