A woman applied for a customer service position at Mantality Health, a men's health clinic with locations in Missouri, Nebraska and Wisconsin. After submitting her application, she received an email from the clinic denying her the position because of her "ghetto" first name, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Hermeisha Robinson, 27, posted the email she received in response to her job application from an individual claiming to be a nurse practitioner with the clinic to social media.
"Thank you for your interest in careers at Mantality Health. Unfortunately we do not consider candidates that have suggestive 'ghetto' names," the email said.
The incident was addressed in a prepared statement on the clinic's website, which states: "The password for the outside job board site used by Mantality was compromised on August 13, 2018. We are currently working with law enforcement to identify the perpetrator and consider appropriate legal action. We share the anger and frustration of those who received these bogus emails."
Kevin Meuret, owner of Mantality Health, reiterated the clinic's statement to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Aug. 14, and said the clinic's email system had been hacked by someone outside of the state. Mr. Meuret said he believes the individual is a former employee.
Mr. Meuret said at least 20 job candidates received emails from the alleged hacker, and that the clinic is waiting to receive the computer IP address through which the emails were sent.
"I'm a father of three daughters, and that young lady getting that [email] is horrible. That young lady opened something that must have felt like a freight train, and that's unacceptable. We will continue to pursue this even if it becomes a federal matter," Mr. Meuret told the publication, adding that the company has also formally apologized to Ms. Robinson.
In her Facebook post explaining the email, Ms. Robinson said the message was deeply upsetting and unfairly discriminating.
"[Mantality Health] discriminated against me because of my name, which they considered it to be 'ghetto' for their company! My feelings are very hurt and they even got me second-guessing my name, trying to figure out if my name is really that 'ghetto,'" she wrote.
She also asked for all her social media followers to share the post "because discrimination has to stop," the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
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