A former employee of the Georgetown University Hospital filed a lawsuit against the organization that operates the hospital last month, alleging that she was fired because of her race.

The employee, Bonita Brown, was employed as a clinical technician at the hospital for four years before she was fired in August 2005. In a formal complaint filed Aug. 10, Brown’s attorney Reuben Collins said that MedStar Health, the non-profit healthcare organization that operates the hospital, discriminated against Brown because she is African-American.

Collins is seeking $950,000 in damages for his client on the charges of discrimination based on race and retaliation, wrongful termination and breach of contract.

The complaint outlines several instances in which Brown felt she had been treated differently from her white counterparts and accuses MedStar of failing to either control this behavior or provide a non-discriminatory reason for her termination. Brown had a run-in with a supervisor, Nursing Coordinator Michelle Humphrey, over her hours, saying that she could not work daily after 5:30 p.m. because she must pick up her children at daycare, while Humphrey granted a white co-worker’s similar request, the complaint said.

Humphrey said that she had not heard that a formal complaint had been filed on behalf of Brown and would not discuss details of Brown’s employment or termination.

The termination “was wrongful and without any causes whatsoever in that it resulted solely from Ms. Brown’s participation in a protected activity that involved a discrimination investigation against [MedStar] Health,” the complaint said.

Brown believes “that the outrageous conduct … was malicious and oppressive, and done with a conscious disregard for [her] rights, and with the intent to injure,” the complaint said.

The filing additionally accuses MedStar Health of breach of contract for not providing Brown a disciplinary hearing or an opportunity to respond to allegations made against her prior to her dismissal.

Attorneys for MedStar Health’s local division were unavailable for comment.

Collins also declined to comment on the specifics of the case, but said that he thought that Brown’s is a “meritorious claim.”

Collins said that MedStar must issue an answer and defense to the claim before depositions or further legal action is taken.