• 30
  • August
    2010

The California Nurses Association (CNA) recently filed a class action lawsuit against California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC), accusing hospital officials of ongoing racial discrimination against Filipino registered nurses.

At least two former CPMC supervisors have written to the San Francisco Human Rights Commission in conjunction with the lawsuit, claiming that superiors at the medical center instructed them "not to hire any more Filipinos."

CNA representatives claim that they have the numbers to back up their claims and point to St. Luke's Hospital, in San Francisco, which is a CPMC affiliate.

In 2008, more than half of the hospital's nursing staff was Filipino. However, starting in early 2008 and continuing to the present, only 10 percent of the registered nurses hired by St. Luke's have been Filipino.

CPMC's CEO has referred to the claims as "dishonest" and reaffirmed the hospital's dedication to fair hiring practices and racial equality.

The cry for action has also been picked up by the Filipino Community Center and the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns, and a spokesman cited the medical center's alleged discriminatory practices as yet "another blatant example of the abuse that Filipino migrant workers face in the United States."

Union officials and Filipino community members are also asking the San Francisco Human Rights Commission to investigate California Pacific Medical Center for policies that promote discrimination based on national origin, race and ethnicity.

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