Greenwood Leflore Hospital is denying that it discriminated against a Black doctor by paying him at a lower rate than a white colleague in the same podiatry practice.
In a response filed last week in U.S. District Court, the hospital said that any actions it took regarding Dr. Preston Boles “were for legitimate, nondiscriminatory business reasons” unrelated to Boles’ race.
The hospital’s answer to a lawsuit filed in early August by Boles was first reported by The Taxpayers Channel.
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Boles is suing the hospital for racial discrimination, claiming he was paid at a rate 15% to 18% less than what a white podiatrist, Dr. Joseph Assini, received. Boles calculated that if he had been paid at the same rate as Assini, the Black physician would have received almost $212,000 more over a seven-year period ending in 2019.
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. Assini died in May of this year.
The lawsuit does not accuse Assini of any wrongdoing.
The hospital acknowledges in its response that Assini was paid at the rate of $52 per Relative Value Unit, a standard measure used by Medicare to determine the amount of reimbursement to providers, while Boles was paid between $44.05 and $45 per RVU for most of those years.
The hospital does not provide in its response an explanation for the difference other than to deny it was racially motivated. “GLH has an equal employment opportunity policy that prohibits discrimination, harassment and retaliation, and has made good faith efforts to comply with all anti-discrimination laws,” the response said.
The 15-page response also disputes Boles’ claims as to how much he was paid annually during the nine-year period in question and, for most of those years, how many RVUs the physician worked.
It also denies Boles’ allegations 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.”
The hospital asks that Boles’ lawsuit be dismissed and the hospital be awarded attorneys’ fees and other legal expenses incurred in defending itself.
- Contact Tim Kalich at 662-581-7243 or tkalich@gwcommonwealth.com.
