Fired CRO Exec Says Firm Was Tracking Sexual Orientation of Hires
May 13th, 2013 // 3:11 pm @ jmpickett
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An ex-CEO at a CRO is claiming that he was fired last year improperly because he complained about a computer system that was tracking the religion, political views and sexual orientation of possible employees.
Joseph Brennan worked as CIO for Research Pharmaceutical Services from June 2010-Jan 2011. He said that after he complained about the computer system, the CRO informed him that tracking was utilized to put employees in positions where they had the most compatibility. Brennan has filed a lawsuit in federal court in Philadelphia.
Brennan stated that he told management that such tracking should cease and was a serious privacy violation. This was uncovered during a privacy practices audit by PriceWaterhouseCoopers. He was told not to talk about the practice, and then he was taken from his role in due diligence that was being done by a potential buyer.
The month after that, Brennan was fired for supposedly not disclosing his other business activities. He maintains that RPS employees were authorized to conduct other business activities an no one else was ever fired for these practices. He charges in the lawsuit that he was fired for objecting to the system of hiring/placing workers based upon their religion and other personal factors.
