Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Woman Says Jewish Board Fired Her for Not Being Jewish

— A woman is suing a Jewish non-profit health organization for wrongful termination, claiming she was let go because she was not Jewish enough.

Helaine Dominguez, 69, was the director of medical services for the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services for almost 12 years until she was fired in 2013. She alleges that her new boss, Avrohom Adler, sought to cultivate a more religiously observant staff, according to the New York Post.

“Immediately after his appointment, Adler began a crusade to ensure that staff in the departments reporting to him were comprised of Orthodox or highly observant Jews,” Dominguez says in a Manhattan federal court claim. He “advanced the careers of younger employees who shared his level of faith.”

Dominguez had gone on leave to care for a son who had stomach surgery, the Post reported. When she returned, she was allegedly told by Adler that the organization was “going in a new direction” and let go.

Dominguez is seeking reinstatement in her job and unspecified damages. The Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services did not comment on the case.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.