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Friday, November 13, 2026Nov 13

Erlanger and former CEO settle wrongful-termination lawsuit

Charlesetta Woodard-Thompson, former two-time interim chief executive officer, will receive $600,000 in her wrongful termination suit from Erlanger hospital.
Charlesetta Woodard-Thompson, former two-time interim chief executive officer, will receive $600,000 in her wrongful termination suit from Erlanger hospital. Charlesetta Woodard-Thompson, former two-time interim chief executive officer, will receive $600,000 in her wrongful termination suit from Erlanger hospital.

A former Erlanger executive will get $600,000 to settle the wrongful-termination lawsuit she filed against the hospital more than two years ago.

The $900,000 agreement grants Charlesetta Woodard-Thompson $480,000 for “compensatory and other non-wage items”; $120,000 for three months’ wages; and $300,000 for her legal counsel, Lawrence & Lawrence, according to Erlanger spokeswoman Pat Charles.

“This settlement is comparable to what Erlanger had agreed to pay Ms. Woodard-Thompson more than two years ago, but was refused by her at that time,” Charles wrote in a news release.

After she was terminated while on medical leave in summer 2013, Woodard-Thompson filed the $25 million lawsuit, alleging she had “experienced an array of strange and alarming happenings” as interim hospital CEO.

Woodard-Thompson, 67, said she was the target of racial remarks, safety threats and email hacks by the hospital’s then-attorney, then unfairly passed over for the permanent CEO position in 2012. Twice she had served as interim, between 2003-2004 and 2012-2013.