NEW ORLEANS – A former pediatric nurse at Children’s Hospital of New Orleans claims in a federal lawsuit filed last month that she was passed over more than once for promotions due to her age.
Plaintiff Amy Bradley filed her lawsuit June 27 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The defendant is now known as Manning Family Children’s.
In February, the hospital announced its renaming after a “transformational gift” from the NFL-famous Manning family – including Archie and Olivia Manning and sons Cooper, Peyton, and Eli.
The hospital, located in New Orleans, is a non-profit, pediatric acute care children’s teaching hospital with 229 beds and employs about 18,000.
“Ms. Bradley believes she was twice passed over for promotion in favor of younger, less experienced nurses, and that these decisions were motivated, at least in part, by age-based discrimination, in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967,” the 11-page complaint states.
ADEA forbids employment discrimination against anyone at least 40 years old, or older, in the U.S.
According to her filing, Bradley is 55 years old. She began her employment with the hospital as a floor nurse in May 1996. She later served as both a staff nurse and charge nurse in its Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, or PICU.
From August 1999 through October 2021, Bradley was employed in the emergency room at the hospital’s main campus, where she served in both staff nurse and charge nurse roles.
From July 2017 to December 2019, she also served as a Pediatric Advanced Life Support, or PALS, instructor at the hospital on a monthly basis.
From March 2019 to October 2021, she worked on a PRN basis in the transfer center of the hospital.
In her lawsuit, Bradley claims a younger nurse named Courtney was hired at the hospital’s main campus in 2016 and given full-time hours “despite lacking charge nurse experience.” The nurse transferred to PRN status in 2019.
In October 2021, the Children’s Hospital Emergency Room in Metairie, or CHERM, opened. Bradley, along with Courtney, a nurse named Estelle, and another younger nurse Collin transferred to CHERM. A nurse named Caitlin – who was in her late 20s, the filing noted – was assigned as clinical lead for the night shift.
In March 2023, Estelle resigned from her position as clinical lead. Bradley, along with Collin, Courtney, and Ellen applied for the open clinical lead position.
“Ms. Bradley was highly qualified, with over 25 years of nursing experience, strong performance history, and a record of dependability and leadership. She prepared extensively for the interview and received positive informal feedback, including from Dr. Frank Bissant, who remarked that she had ‘nailed’ the interview and was a ‘shoe-in’ for the position,” the complaint states.
“Despite her qualifications, the clinical lead position was awarded to Courtney, who had significantly less experience, approximately six to eight years of nursing practice and no prior charge nurse experience.”
According to Bradley’s complaint, Courtney had been working part-time, routinely declined overtime, and “had not consistently taken on additional tasks or leadership responsibilities.”
When Bradley asked her supervisor, Korie, about the panel’s decision, she was told it was “unanimous.” But other panel members told Bradley they were not asked to make a final selection.
In March 2024, Caitlin announced she was pregnant and switched to PRN status, vacating the night shift clinical lead position.
Bradley claims she expressed interest in the vacancy, but was told by her supervisor that no replacement would be selected. But soon after, Collin was promoted to the clinical lead position.
“When questioned, Korie explained that Collin had been the ‘second choice’ during the prior year’s hiring process and that they did not want to lose him because he was applying for other positions,” according to the complaint. “This justification demonstrated inconsistency in the hiring rationale, further raising concerns of discriminatory motive.”
After being denied a promotion for the second time, Bradley elected to apply for a new job and accepted a full-time position with St. Tammany Children’s Emergency Room in April 2024. She shifted to PRN status at Children’s Hospital.
“In both cases, Children’s Hospital selected substantially younger individuals for promotion despite Plaintiff’s demonstrably superior qualifications, experience, and performance,” the complaint states.
Bradley contends the hospital’s decisions were “intentional, willful, and unlawful.”
She seeks back pay, front pay, liquidated damages, punitive damages, general and special damages for lost compensation and job benefits she would have received, pre-judgment interest, costs, attorneys’ fees, and post-judgment interest.
She is represented by The Minias Law Firm in New Orleans.
