Federal Agency Accuses Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield of Age Discrimination
Jul. 6–A federal agency has sued Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, accusing the health-insurance provider of discriminating against two Long Island employees because of their age.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which oversees civil rights in the workplace, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn against Empire HealthChoice, an HMO that also does business as the better-known company. The complaint, filed last week, said Empire HealthChoice denied promotions to auditors Thomas Guiffrida, 58, and James Frullo, 61. Instead, the company promoted younger workers with less experience and “no better evaluations,” said Louis Graziano, the EEOC senior trial attorney litigating the case.
The company then retaliated against the pair when they complained, according to the complaint. The EEOC filed the complaint under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, which bans discrimination and subsequent retaliation against workers age 40 and over. The lawsuit could potentially cover more workers at the Jericho and Bohemia locations, where the men worked.
Blue Cross denied the allegations.
“Although we have not yet been served with this complaint, we believe there is no merit to the claims made,” Karen Early, an Empire spokeswoman, said yesterday. “We believe that a full airing of the facts in court will support our fair treatment of these individuals.”
But said Graziano, “We took the case because it has merit.”
Both men, who worked at the company at least five years, were denied promotions to senior auditing positions that would have increased their salary by about $5,000 a year, Graziano said. Frullo, after he slipped and fell at work, also was denied a medical leave, the complaint said.
“They were more generous in giving younger employees time off,” Graziano said.
After the men complained, the company transferred Guiffrida to its Bohemia office, from Jericho. Frullo was fired in February 2004. The company also monitored the men intensely, even timing how much time they spent in the bathroom, Graziano said.
The men were unavailable for comment.
The complaint, which covers February 2002 to the present, seeks back wages, damages and promotions for the men, among other things.
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