US: Jury awards man who lost job to women $10m in discrimination case

David Duvall, a white male marketing executive at Novant Health in North Carolina, sued the hospital in 2018, alleging that he was fired so diversity targets could be met.

He said he was sacked just before reaching five years at the company, which would have resulted in a bigger severance package. He was ordered off the premises immediately and without explanation, according to his lawsuit.

Mr Duvall was replaced by two women: Kate Everett, a white female colleague, and Vicky Free, a black woman.

While both of them were qualified for the job, Mr Duvall said they were not more qualified. His lawyers claimed he was fired “out of the clear blue sky” because he was a white man and that the move was part of the hospital’s plan to boost diversity.

He was awarded $10m by a jury for discrimination on Tuesday.

Novant, however, denied the allegations and said Mr Duvall’s employment was terminated for other reasons. In its 2019 response it said he was fired “due to his deficient performance, including his inability to communicate effectively before a group and the delegation of the critical duties of his position to his subordinates”.

It also claimed that Ms Everett was already doing the lion’s share of Mr Duvall’s job and said it was “extremely disappointed” with the verdict, “as we believe it is not supported by the evidence presented at trial”.