CVS removes managers after harassment allegations
By Ramishah Maruf, CNN
CVS CEO Karen Lynch removed a regional manager and several employees after a harassment allegation was not treated seriously, the company said in a statement sent to CNN Business Friday.
At the end of 2021, the company received an anonymous report that alleged misconduct by someone in field management, CVS said in a statement. The Wall Street Journal reported that two female employees in a New Jersey CVS alleged the store’s manager “harassed or inappropriately touched them.” CVS confirmed that allegation to CNN.
In its statement, CVS said it hired an outside firm to conduct an investigation, which resulted in the firing of not only the store manager but also several employees “for failing to treat the allegations with the seriousness we expect,” according to a statement to CNN.
“We absolutely do not tolerate behavior or actions that are harassing, hostile, abusive or discriminatory,” the company said in the statement to CNN Business.
After the incident, CVS said it established an Office of Workplace Assistance, which will report to Lynch and seek to improve employees’ ability to confidentially raise concerns or report wrongdoing.
Lynch was named CEO in February 2021, amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The company is a central player in the US pandemic response, at first offering Covid testing and later vaccines when they became available. In October, Lynch was named to the number one spot of Fortune magazine’s list of the most powerful women in business.
CVS announced in November that it will close 900 stores over the next 3 years, or about 10% of its pharmacies, in response to what it said are changing consumer buying patterns.
It will remodel some stores as it pivots into health care aspects of business and pointed to “changes in population, consumer buying patterns and future health needs” as factors in its decision to close those locations.
— CNN Business’ Nathaniel Meyersohn contributed to this story
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