Two women health care executives have tentatively settled their lawsuit against three entities in which they alleged they were targeted for disparate treatment because of their gender and ultimately forced to resign in 2022.
The Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit brought by plaintiffs Kelly Bruno and Danielle Cameron against the National Health Foundation, the Hospital Association of Southern California and the California Hospital Association included allegations of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, breach of contract and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
On Thursday, the plaintiffs’ attorneys filed court with Judge Lia Martin notifying her of the “conditional” accord with the expectation that a request for dismissal will be filed by Jan. 29. No terms were divulged.
An HASC representative could not be immediately reached for comment on the tentative settlement.
NHF operates as a functionally independent public health nonprofit in partnership with the HASC and the CHA. Bruno was hired in 2007 as COO and was promoted to NHF president and CEO in 2015. Cameron was retained in 2007 as program manager and was promoted to NHF’s director of national development in 2008 and to chief strategy officer in 2015.
NHF experienced a decade-plus growth trajectory under the Bruno-Cameron leadership and a program they established brought in enough revenue to fully achieve its mission, the suit stated. Former City Council President Nury Martinez selected NHF to receive a Project Homekey site in her district, a $20.5 million asset and NHF’s largest project to that date, the suit stated.
However, at the same time the HASC’s size and involvement in the health care community was waning and that organization’s CEO began to exert pressure on his NHF counterpart to do things that would benefit the HASC to NHF’s detriment, including by engaging in fraudulent misrepresentations to NHF’s donors and the public at large, the suit alleged.
“HASC took steps to take advantage of NHF’s great success for its own benefit to bring NHF back under the HASC umbrella,” according to the suit, which further stated that HASC undermined NHF’s independence.
In mid-2019, the HASC’s CEO inserted himself into the operational direction and control of NHF and regularly undermined NHF’s work and its female leadership, according to the suit, which further states that the HASC executive’s “frequent and unwarranted criticism, berating comments and general bullying activity towards plaintiffs and other female leaders created a hostile work environment for NHF’s executive team, including Bruno and Cameron.”
When Bruno and Cameron complained about the HASC CEO’s conduct to the NHF board and executive committee, they were told that the CEO was “untouchable” and nothing meaningful was done, the suit stated.
In the months afterward, the HASC CEO repeatedly challenged Bruno’s salary, including by requesting multiple salary surveys in an effort to reduce her pay, even after independent third parties confirmed that she was underpaid, the suit stated.
The HASC CEO told Bruno and Cameron that they were “incapable of doing their jobs, they were too harsh, bossy, difficult, argumentative and overly vocal and assertive, according to the suit, which further states that both women resigned in April 2022 because of the alleged intolerable work conditions.
Within 48 hours of Cameron quitting, another NHF female executive team member also resigned, citing the alleged harassment, unfair and inequitable treatment the HASC and its CEO created, the suit filed April 24 stated.