Houston woman claims race as reason for demotion

HOUSTON - A Houston woman alleges a Katy hospital demoted her because of her race, recent court documents say.

In a lawsuit filed Oct. 12 against Memorial Hermann Katy Hospital in the Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas, Mattie M. Mason asserts her African American identity prompted the defendant to relieve her of her charge nurse position.

The suit says Mason was a charge nurse in the hospital's post partum unit until June of last year.

It claims the plaintiff "was subjected to different staffing assignments" on June, 11, 2011, stating that a couple of colleagues "made the staffing assignment for [her] shift and refused to review the staffing grid to determine if the staffing was correct with the number of patients."

Mason explains she had "20 patients with only three nurses and one tech" until 11 p.m. that time of which she complained and was purportedly issued a final written corrective action and removed as charge nurse "even though [she] had never had previous counseling."

According to the original petition, the work assignments are heavier and the discipline harsher for black charge nurses like Mason.

The respondent gave Mason an action plan as well as demoted her on June 22, 2011.

She consequently seeks the removal of the disciplinary marks from her employee record.

Mason is representing herself.

Case No. 4:12-cv-3054