South Florida-based home health aid company, Interim Healthcare, has been ordered by the New York State Attorney General’s office to pay a $100,000 fine for posting a job add warning “No Haitians need apply.”
Back in October 2015, the Interim Healthcare New York branch, who has their corporate office in Sunrise, posted an offensive and typo-riddled advert calling for a “laid back nurse, no haitians [sic].”
The incident sparked outrage within the Diaspora in New York and South Florida, where Interim Healthcare is based. In October, Miami Dade Commission Chairman Jean Monestime had called the company’s actions “completely inacceptable” and called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to “immediately join the case” investigation by New York’s Attorney General Office’s Office into Interim Healthcare’s employment and hiring practices. The Haitian-American Nurses Association’s (HANA) South Florida Chapter also responded to the controversy, saying that “this type of ignorance will not be tolerated,” and demanded that “proper actions are taking against Interim Healthcare, Inc.”
Read more: Miami-Dade’s Chairman Monestime condemns “No Haitians” Job ad
No action has been reported regarding whether Florida’s Attorney General’s office investigated the company for discriminatory hiring practices in the state. But, as part of the New York Attorney’s office’s settlement with Interim Healthcare, the company will now be required to also create more stringent anti-discriminatory policies, dubbed as “Caregiver Placement Equal Employment Opportunity Policy,” in addition to the fine.
The New York Attorney General’s investigation into the incident found that the ad’s specification stemmed directly from a patient’s request and was not reviewed by the company for potential violation of equal opportunity rights laws before it was published in a Rockland County pennysaver.
Watch now:CNW90: Miami-Dade’s Chairman Monestime condemns “No Haitians” Job Ad
The agency also agreed to assign the Vice President of Human Resources to supervise the processing of patients’ requests for caregivers. Interim Healthcare will also have to train all its employees responsible for hiring and adverting in an anti-discrimination program. The company will also investigate all complaints, written or oral, alleging discriminatory treatment on the basis of race, national origin or gender and provide the Attorney General with reports describing all such complaints.
