Hunter
11/07/22
The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics face two discrimination lawsuits; one from a former employee and one from a student.
The Daily Iowan reported that Faith Sang is a Kenyan woman who worked as an advanced registered nurse practitioner and alleges in her suit that she was subject to hostility, harassment, and discrimination.
She names The UIHC, Board of Regents, and Kevin Glenn, the UIHC Adult Hospitalist Program Chief Hospitalist for violating Iowa Code that prohibits discrimination and retaliation for reporting adverse actions among other things.
Sang was the only person of color on her team, and claimed that she was not assigned a peer to work with when she was first hired in September 2018 due to short staffing. She filed a complaint with the UI Office of the Ombudperson and says she was moved to two different departments that she wasn’t qualified for. She was terminated in March of 2019.
The second suit was filed this summer by Nourhan Abdelrahim. She is Muslim woman from Egypt who has been part of the Kirkwood Community College – UIHC partnership program since the fall of 2021.
Abdelrahim claims she was discriminated against for refusing to remove her hajib in class. Part of the course required measuring her head and placing electrodes on it. When she voiced her concerns, she claims that neither the UIHC or her instructor responded.
The suit alleges when Abdelrahim refused to take her hijab off in class, the instructor, Marjorie Tucker, embarrassed and traumatized her and kicked her out of class.
The suit names UIHC, the UI Health System, and Tucker, and claims religious accommodation discrimination, religious education discrimination, and retaliation by a staff member.
The UIHC filed motions to dismiss on both cases. Both motions were denied. Trial dates have yet to be determined.