She kept a certification for 12 years — then learned her coworkers never needed one
Shriners Hospital for Children faces a federal lawsuit alleging it held a minority employee to credentialing standards her peers never had to meet.
Nicole Cotton, who identifies as a Black/Asian, Korean woman, filed the case on April 8 in the Northern District of Illinois (Cotton v. Shriners Hospital for Children, No. 1:26-cv-03879). The suit alleges race and national origin discrimination, retaliation, and constructive discharge under Title VII and the Illinois Human Rights Act.
Cotton worked as an orthopedic technician at the hospital's Chicago location starting in October 2013. According to the filing, she was told at the time of hire that the role required national board certification as an orthopedic technologist — a credential she obtained and maintained for more than a decade.
The trouble started, the lawsuit alleges, when Cotton discovered after more than 11 years of service that colleagues holding the same cast technician title were never required to get or keep that certification. Those colleagues, the filing states, were not Black, Asian, or Korean.
When Cotton raised the discrepancy and requested reclassification based on her credentials and twelve years of experience, she was allegedly told she no longer needed the certification and that "you are just a cast tech and nothing but [a] cast tech[s]. That's all you are and that's all you're worth."
What followed, according to the...
Singer and actor Kim Min-jong refuted allegations of involvement in illegal gambling, calling them “clear falsehoods.” Kim stated through his legal representatives, OhKims Law, on the 19th, “We cl...