A hospital worker says speaking up cost her more than staying silent would have
A hospital pharmacy worker says she reported a racial slur - then a coworker warned her that "snitches get stitches."
The worker, a certified pharmacy technician, is suing UF Health, the entity run by the University of Florida Board of Trustees. In a complaint filed August 11, 2026, in federal court in Jacksonville, she alleges a race-based hostile work environment and retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Florida Civil Rights Act. For HR professionals, the case is less about the comment itself than about what an employer does once a complaint lands on its desk.
According to the filing, it began on or about December 12, 2025. The worker says she walked into a workplace restroom where two coworkers were talking and overheard remarks about Black women in the department. The complaint alleges one coworker referred to certain Black women who worked there as "the Gross Sisters." The worker, who is African-American, says she understood the comment to target Black coworkers and read it as a racial stereotype casting Black women as unattractive and socially inferior. She says she found the comment offensive and humiliating, and did not welcome it.
The complaint says she stayed quiet at first, fearing retaliation and worried that a relatively new employee wouldn't be believed.
Weeks later, she raised it. On or about January 7, 2026, she told a coworker, who urged her to go to...
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