Gender discrimination suit moves to federal court

METRO Case alleges Lifespan, Miriam Hospital, Brown violated three laws against male prof.

BY NEIL MEHTA & JULIA VAZ UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR & METRO EDITOR

A lawsuit from a former professor at the Alpert Medical School alleging gender discrimination and a hostile work environment was moved from state to federal court Friday, according to court filings reviewed by The Herald.

Dale Bond, a former professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the Med School, originally filed the lawsuit against Lifespan Corporation, Miriam Hospital, the University and Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior Rena Wing in January 2022. In the suit, filed in the Rhode Island Superior Court, Bond alleges he faced gender discrim- ination, retaliation and a hostile work environment that ultimately led to his resignation, among other claims.

Bond’s current complaint, updated in January 2023, alleges that the defendants violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination in employment based on “race, color, religion, sex or national origin,” along with the Rhode Island Civil Rights Act and the Rhode Island Fair Employment Act.

Lifespan, Miriam and Wing denied these allegations in their written response to the complaint submitted Feb. 13. Following a Feb. 24 notice of removal, the case moved to the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island due to federal jurisdiction over the Civil Rights Act.

According to the complaint, Bond was employed as a professor at the University and Miriam Hospital, which is part of Lifespan’s network of hospitals. The document also claims that Lifespan, Miriam and Brown “en-