Los Angeles County, CA

Los Angeles, CA: Ending a legal battle with doctors employed by Los Angeles County, the Board of Supervisors agreed to pay physicians more than $10 million to compensate for benefits denied after they voted to unionize. Under the agreement, which was approved unanimously in a closed session, about 670 doctors will receive an average of $15,000 for lost health and other benefits between 2002 and 2004. As part of the old benefits package, the doctors had been given up to 19% of their salaries toward health insurance, vacation and sick time, but could opt to pocket the cash. However the county argued that doctors became ineligible for that benefits package when they voted to join the union in 1999.

The doctors were enrolled in a less lucrative plan used by other unionized county employees. This was seen as a punishment for unionizing. Then the Legislature responded to union complaints by making it illegal for large agencies to disqualify employees from health benefit plans based on whether they are unionized. To ensure that the physicians union was covered by the new law, legislators made it retroactive to 2001. In 2003, county doctors voted to withdraw from the union, blaming it for losing their lucrative benefits plan. As a result, the county allowed the doctors to return to their old plan starting in January 2004. The union sued the county, alleging the policy illegally discriminated against union members. In 2005, an appellate court ruled that the new law meant the county had to repay physicians the difference between the old and new benefit plans. (Jan-24-07) [LOS ANGELES TIMES: LA PHYSICIANS]

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