Just when El Camino thought public scrutiny of its executive compensation was over, the Service Employees International Union Local 715 (SEIU) resuscitated the matter.
On Tuesday morning, the SEIU filed a lawsuit against El Camino Hospital and the El Camino Hospital District for “failing to disclose public information.” The suit demands the release of compensation information and policies for El Camino’s top executives, contractors and board members going back to 2002. The suit also requests financial statements for the hospital’s dialysis unit.
This suit comes a year after the Voice sued the hospital for compensation information for its former CEO, Lee Domanico, and other top executives. In that lawsuit, the Voice contended that, as a nonprofit organization with a publicly elected board, the hospital was required to make the CEO’s salary and benefits public.
The case was settled when the hospital released Domanico’s total compensation for the 2004 fiscal year, and the hospital’s board also agreed to file an IRS tax Form 990 for the 2005 fiscal year.
El Camino released its Form 990 — a financial disclosure form for nonprofits — last November, revealing that Domanico made more than $900,000 in total compensation in the last fiscal year.
The form also revealed that six hospital executives made more than $300,000 in total compensation in the last fiscal year — including interim CEO and CFO Marla Gularte, whose salary is $346,416 — and that four others earned between $100,000 and $300,000.
But the SEIU doesn’t think that information was enough.
“They should have responded more fully than they did,” said Vincent Harrington, the attorney representing SEIU Local 715. “The primary purpose [of the lawsuit] is to attain transparency.”
El Camino spokesman Jon Friedenberg said the hospital regularly discloses ample financial information — a financial statement at each public monthly board meeting — in addition to last November’s Form 990.
On Tuesday afternoon, about 25 SEIU Local 715 representatives, hospital employees and family members gathered on the lawn in front of the hospital to announce the lawsuit and march to the administrative offices.
The SEIU representatives and hospital employees say this lawsuit takes recent contentious points — including executive compensation, and the impending closure of the subacute They’re putting patient care at risk by making decisions that don’t involve the public,” said SEIU organizer Elsa Caballero. care unit — and argues that they stem from a lack of clarity as to whether the hospital should function as a public or private entity.
“They’re putting patient care at risk by making decisions that don’t involve the public,” said SEIU organizer Elsa Caballero.
The union also argues that El Camino refused employees their right to vote on creating an agency shop — where a union represents, and collects dues from, all employees whether they’re in the union or not. But Friedenberg said this was not the case. He said in 2003 hospital employees covered by the SEIU contract voted against an agency shop, adding that El Camino would consider an agency shop only “if they can demonstrate that the majority of employees want it, but they couldn’t even do that.”
Friedenberg said he doubted that the SEIU’s stance represented the views of most El Camino Hospital employees, and that its motivation to form an agency shop was to collect dues from non-union members.
“They couldn’t convince us and our employees, so they’re trying to impose it on us and our employees,” he said.
For some employees present at the rally, the hospital’s disclosure of financial information to the public is a dire issue.
Tammy Buckles, a clinical lab scientist at El Camino for 17 years, believes the public has a right to know budget and compensation information.
“When you’re publicly accountable and there’s transparency in the financials, we can ask for things to provide better care,” Buckles said.
Certified nursing assistant Roger Williams also participated in the rally because of concern over what he believes is a decline in patient care in recent years at El Camino. One big example is the recent management decision to close the subacute care unit by the end of 2008, which would mean that about 40 CNA positions there would no longer be needed.
“The more they scale us down, the worse it’s going to get. … We are the backbone of every department up there,” he said. “Management sees one side of the picture: the dollar bills.”
Harrington said he hopes for a 60- to 90-day response time for the lawsuit.
“That may be optimistic, but that’s our goal,” he said.
E-mail Molly Tanenbaum at mtanenbaum@mv-voice.com
