Cooper Health to pay $625,000 to settle pay and hiring discrimination allegations

Cooper University Health Care agreed to pay $625,000 to settle allegations of pay and hiring discrimination from July 1, 2016, to Dec. 31, 2017, the U.S. Department of Labor said Monday.

The Labor Department said Cooper, in Camden, discriminated in hiring against 45 Black and Hispanic people and 19 white women who applied for per diem nurse associate jobs and paid 336 women employed as supervisors, nurses, and clerks less than white men in comparable positions.

The settlement was reached as part of the Labor Department’s enforcement of rules governing federal contractors. Cooper contracts with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Labor Department said.

“When an employer accepts a federal contract, they must ensure equal opportunity in its hiring practices and pay their workers their full legally earned wages and benefits,” said Diana Sen, who is the Northeast Regional director for the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.

Cooper admitted no wrongdoing.

“Cooper’s settlement of this matter was a business decision to avoid spending millions of dollars on further legal proceedings rather than patient care,” Thomas Rubino, Cooper’s senior vice president of communications, said in a statement.

“Cooper is proud of its record of hiring, promoting, and retaining women and minorities. The health system’s workforce is made up of 75% women and 40% minorities. In the last 18 months, 50% of promotions at Cooper were earned by minority team members,” Rubino said.