She says she flagged patient safety risks and discrimination — then lost her job
Novo Nordisk is facing a federal lawsuit from a former employee who says she was fired for raising concerns about race discrimination and patient safety.
Tari K. Johnson, who spent seven years as a Senior Clinical Research Associate at the pharmaceutical giant, filed the suit on April 13, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida (Johnson v. Novo Nordisk Inc., Case No. 0:26-cv-61080-DSL). The 11-count action alleges race discrimination, retaliation, a hostile work environment, FMLA retaliation, and whistleblower retaliation under both federal and Florida law.
Johnson, who was the only Black CRA in her division, alleges that starting in late 2022 she repeatedly flagged problems with clinical trial practices involving cognitively impaired Alzheimer's patients. Among her concerns: patients were allegedly being asked to review and sign consent documents exceeding 30 pages in as little as five to fifteen minutes. She says she raised these issues in visit reports, team meetings, and directly with supervisors and study leadership. According to the filing, the company did not take corrective action.
What followed, Johnson alleges, was a pattern of escalating retaliation. After returning from FMLA leave in October 2023 for a serious medical condition involving loss of vision, she was reassigned to a different supervisor who she says minimized her compliance concerns. A Clinical Research Lead allegedly subjected her to heightened scrutiny, early-morning messages, and emails questioning her performance that were copied to senior leadership. Johnson says she complained. Nothing changed.
She took a second FMLA leave in July 2024 for a fractured ankle. When she returned on or about October 23, 2024, she was not given back her prior workload and was instead placed on administrative training tasks for several weeks. Within days, she reported to Ayana Champagne, the company's Vice President of People and Organization, that she believed she was being singled out because of her race. She pointed out that non-Black colleagues doing the same work were not facing similar treatment. According to the filing, no action followed that conversation either.
Shortly after, the company allegedly initiated or reopened an investigation into a documentation issue from May 2024 that Johnson says had already been corrected, reviewed, and considered closed by management before her leave. The investigator allegedly did not review her corrected records and accused her of falsifying documentation. On December 12, 2024, less than eight weeks after her return from leave, Johnson was terminated.
The filing also alleges that non-Black CRAs routinely engaged in the same documentation practice that was cited as the basis for her firing and were never investigated or disciplined. A White female CRA who covered Johnson's sites during her absence allegedly failed to complete significant portions of the work but faced no consequences.
Johnson is seeking back pay, front pay, compensatory and punitive damages, and reinstatement. Novo Nordisk has not yet responded to the suit, and no determination has been made on the merits of the claims.
