Fired hospital CEO alleges unequal pay based on sex

A former CEO and president of Nassau University Medical Center in New York who was fired has filed a lawsuit alleging unequal pay based on sex and other allegations. Megan C. Ryan, who was the system’s first woman CEO, says her replacement, interim CEO Richard Becker, was hired to replace her at 1.38 times her salary, “a massive pay discrepancy that can only be explained by the fact that Becker is a man and Ms. Ryan is a woman.” Ryan says she was terminated in part because the health system had filed a lawsuit against the state to recover more than $1 billion in Medicaid funds withheld from the medical center. Critics contend that Ryan authorized payouts of unused paid time off to herself and other employees who had also resigned, but Ryan’s suit says “this was well” within her discretion as CEO.