by Mitti Hicks
September 12, 2025
Dr. Chris Pernell was the chief integration and well being fairness officer at College Hospital in Newark, the state’s solely public acute-care facility.
The primary variety officer at a New Jersey hospital is suing her former employer over allegations of discrimination.
Dr. Chris Pernell, the previous chief Integration and well being fairness officer at College Hospital in Newark, the state’s solely public acute-care facility, claims she was illegally pressured to depart in 2022.
In response to NJ.com, Pernell, within the lawsuit, stated she was subjected to sexist and racial discrimination and harassment. She alleges that she labored in a hostile setting and was the goal of a “frivolous rip-off investigation” after vying for the cease spot on the hospital when it turned open.
She additionally lists the State Ethics Fee as a defendant.
Pernell Says She Was Criticized For Variety Efforts
Pernell served as chief variety officer in one of many largest suppliers of care within the state for uninsured sufferers. NJ.com stated the hospital is a 519-bed facility.
Pernell stated she was criticized for her variety efforts and located herself being scrutinized greater than different senior employees. In an interview shortly after her departure, she stated hostility towards her started shortly after her arrival whereas she was working to implement variety and inclusion initiatives.
“I felt like I needed to validate the position I used to be in,” she stated.
Within the lawsuit, Pernell stated she was usually requested to “quell the considerations of the Black employees.” In a single incident, she said that she was requested to take part within the hospital’s response after somebody wrote “WLM” (White Lives Matter) in a typical work space.
As a substitute of firing that worker, Pernell stated the hospital reassigned him over her objections.
She stated issues took a flip after she expressed curiosity within the CEO place that opened up following Shereef Elnahal’s departure to work below the Biden administration.
Pernell claimed that even after over 100 leaders had written an open letter to the governor and hospital board of administrators in assist of her as CEO, she was instructed the governor’s workplace wouldn’t assist her candidacy, and was “not going to be strong-armed” into providing her the place.
Pernell is presently the director of the Heart for Well being Fairness on the NAACP.
In her lawsuit, Pernell is in search of reinstatement, again pay, advantages, compensatory damages, and authorized charges. She additionally desires the hospital to “take acceptable corrective motion to cease and forestall retaliation on the office.”
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