A former executive at Novant Health has been awarded $10 million after claiming he was fired from his top-level position because of the company’s diversity initiative.
David Duvall was the former senior vice president of marketing and communication at Novant Health, a medical network company, when he filed his lawsuit in 2019. Duvall claimed that the company violated his rights under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, a law that prohibits racial and gender discrimination in the workplace. Duvall’s lawsuit details that the company let him go suddenly and without warning in 2018 and then filled his position with one white and one Black woman. Duvall argued that he was terminated in order for the company to fulfill a diversity initiative that gave executive positions to more minorities and women. Last Tuesday, jurors found his complaint to have merit and ordered the company to pay Duvall $10 million in damages.
Novant Health maintains its disagreement with the verdict. Instead, Novant Health argues that Duvall was terminated because of his poor leadership skills despite the suit detailing that Duvall had outstanding annual performance evaluations. The complaint explains that Duvall was asked to get "off the premises immediately, five days before his fifth work anniversary," and that he was fired "without warning or cause as part of an intentional campaign to promote diversity in its management ranks; a campaign has boasted about publicly."
In addition to targeting Duvall in order to implement its diversity initiative, the complaint details that Novant Health also dismissed five other white men in executive positions over the course of 12 to 18 months. Their positions were later filled with either a racial minority or a woman.
Duvall’s attorney, S. Luke Largess, shared in a statement that he was “pleased that the jury agreed that Duvall’s race and gender were unlawful factors in his termination — that he was fired to make room for more diverse leaders at Novant.”
Largess adds, “Duvall was a strong advocate of diversity at Novant. We believe the punitive damages award is a message that an employer cannot terminate and replace employees in order to achieve greater diversity in the workforce.”
Following the verdict, Novant Heath’s spokeswoman Megan Rivers read a statement on behalf of the company. “We are extremely disappointed with the verdict as we believe it is not supported by the evidence presented at trial, which includes our reason for Mr. Duvall’s termination,” she explains. Rivers indicated that the company would look into additional legal options including an appeal in the coming weeks and months.
Duvall and his attorney maintain that the lawsuit was “not a statement against diversity and inclusion programs” but rather it was an effort to ensure that such programs run in accordance with the law.
