DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A nursing supervisor says Emory University Hospital fired her when she reported racial discrimination.
Now, she’s suing Emory.
In a Channel 2 Action News exclusive, Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes spoke with LaToya Jackson-Terry, the former Emory nursing supervisor, on Monday.
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A spokesperson for Emory says they don’t comment on pending legal matters.
“It was chaos, chaos to say the least,” said Jackson-Terry.
Jackson-Terry thought she landed her dream job in January 2022 when Emory Hospital hired her as the senior nurse manager.
“It’s a very prestigious academic teaching hospital that gained magnet accreditation,” said Jackson-Terry.
And she felt qualified.
“I have 23 years of nursing experience with 12 of those years in leadership, in some capacity of leadership. I’ve been an academic professor, I’ve been a clinic educator,” she said.
But as soon as she started her new job at Emory, her team, which was mostly Black female nurses, complained about racism in the department.
In Jackson-Terry’s lawsuit and EEOC complaint, she said, “She began to get feedback from various black nurses in the pulmonary care unit – that (a supervisor) had built a culture of favoritism toward white employees in terms of assignments & scheduling, as well as discipline…”
“One incident where a leader came and pointed her finger in one of the nurse’s face & yelled at her and screamed at her and said you know...made a mockery of her & nothing was done about it. She actually went to HR,” said Jackson-Terry.
Her team said that the supervisor had been treating black employees unfairly for years and at this point, Jackson-Terry had only been on the job for three months.
She said the HR supervisor investigating her case then accused her of coercing her team to make up complaints.
“So, the manager of the investigation team had that one conversation where it looked like everything was accusatory – well she was accusing me – and then I didn’t hear anything else – and then I got sick,” said Jackson-Terry.
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She said she received a termination letter six weeks later.
Emory sent Channel 2 Action News a statement that read in part, “...we do not comment on pending legal matters.”
Jackson-Terry said it took courage for her to speak up.
“Something has to change, and if it takes me – and other people like myself to actually speak about what occurs behind closed doors – then this is what we need to do,” said Jackson-Terry.
Jackson-Terry is looking for work while her case is being investigated.
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