GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Two Spectrum Health workers have filed a federal lawsuit after their jobs were reassigned because a patient’s guardian did not want black workers caring for him, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit is the latest in which black healthcare workers say they were told they could not care for white patients.

Tywana Pittman and Tatanisha Smith filed the lawsuit against Spectrum Health System. They say they have been re-assigned, lost pay and suffered emotional distress.

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Pittman started working with Spectrum Health in 1997 as a certified nursing assistant. Smith started in 2009 as a home-health aide. They had a permanent assignment providing 24-hour car for a white man who had suffered brain injuries.

Pittman had cared for him for 10 years, while Smith had cared for him since she was hired.

During that time, the patient called the workers derogatory names, including the n-word.

“Although plaintiffs did not like being called such names, they continued to provide excellent care to the patient and never asked to be removed from their assignment of caring for that patient,” attorney Julie Gafkay wrote in the lawsuit.

Gafkay has represented clients in similar situations, and won a $200,000 settlement from Hurley Medical Center in Flint.

She said that the workers’ manager told them in March 2012 that black employees could no longer work with that patient. The patient’s guardian had requested that black workers no longer care for him, Gafkay said.

Their hours and pay were significantly reduced, the lawsuit said.

Beyond the lost wages, they “felt harassed, humiliated and discriminated against” after losing the assignment, Gafkay wrote.

The lawsuit was Thursday, Jan. 10, in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids.

A Spectrum Health spokeswoman said the company does not comment on pending litigation.

John Agar covers crime for MLive/Grand Rapids Press E-mail John Agar: jagar@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ReporterJAgar