A physician is suing Greenwood Leflore Hospital over his compensation, claiming racial discrimination and breach of contract.
Dr. Preston Boles, who is Black, is accusing the hospital of illegally paying him at a lower rate than a white podiatrist who worked with Boles at Greenwood Leflore Foot Center.
The lawsuit, which is one side of a legal argument, was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Greenville. The filing was first reported by The Taxpayers Channel.
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“We do not discuss personnel matters or pending litigation,” Jason Studley, the hospital’s CEO, said when contacted about the lawsuit.
The 12-page complaint claims that Boles was paid at a rate 15% to 18% less than what Dr. Joseph Assini received. Boles calculated that if he had been paid at the same rate as his white colleague, he would have received almost $212,000 more over a seven-year period ending in 2019.
Assini died in May of this year.
Boles also claims that after renegotiating his contract, he has been underpaid by $22,175 each of the past two years.
Podiatrists treat disorders of the foot, ankle and related structures of the leg. Boles opened a private podiatry practice in Greenwood in 1992. In 2006, he sold the practice to the hospital and became an employed physician at what would become the Greenwood Leflore Foot Center.
Six years later, he was joined in the practice by Assini, who moved to Greenwood from New Jersey.
Boles said that he did not know for nearly seven years that Assini was allegedly being paid at a higher rate than Boles was. Boles claims that the hospital routinely tries to keep physician contracts under wraps, including clauses that “forbid the doctors from disclosing their compensation to ‘third parties’ — including each other.”
Such secrecy, according to the lawsuit, is a violation of both federal and state laws.
However, Leonard Van Slyke, an attorney who handles requests from the Mississippi Press Association regarding freedom-of-information laws, said the lawsuit is wrong on that point, at least as it pertains to state law. Mississippi’s Public Records Act exempts physician contracts and salaries at publicly owned hospitals from disclosure.
Boles said he learned in September 2019 that Assini was being paid at the rate of $52 per Relative Value Unit, a standard measure used by Medicare to determine the amount of reimbursement to providers. For all of this time, Boles was paid $44.05 or $45 per RVU, he said.
On Sept. 17, 2019, according to the lawsuit, Boles questioned Gary Marchand, the interim CEO, about the difference in pay. The date is apparently in error, as Marchand did not start working at the hospital until Oct. 2, 2019. Studley became the hospital’s permanent CEO in October 2020, although Marchand has stayed on in an advisory capacity.
Boles said he was told by Marchand that “the difference in pay was because of a difference in ‘productivity’” — a characterization that Boles claims is both untrue and irrelevant. The lawsuit acknowledges that Assini had a higher medical certification, but it claims that the amount the hospital could bill insurers for the two physicians’ services in general podiatry was identical.
“An RVU earned by Dr. Assini is worth exactly the same to the hospital as an RVU earned by Dr. Boles,” the lawsuit states.
Between 2012 and 2019, Boles earned between $123,525 and $289,015 annually, depending on how many RVUs he worked. His contract changed the following year, guaranteeing him a base salary of $215,000 and a bonus of $45 per RVU worked above 4,285 for the year, according to the lawsuit.
Boles calculated that he should have earned $256,415 in fiscal year 2020 and $235,763 in fiscal year 2021, but he was paid $22,175 less than that each year.
Boles initially filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In May, it informed him of his right to sue in federal court to pursue his claim of racial discrimination. The physician is seeking back pay and associated benefits as well as an unspecifed amount of compensatory and punitive damages.
He is represented by Jackson attorney Joel F. Dillard.
- Contact Tim Kalich at 581-7243 or tkalich@gwcommonwealth.com.
