Supporters of a proposal to raise the minimum wage for California health workers point to Inglewood, where last fall voters approved a wage hike that primarily applied to staff at dialysis clinics and the city’s only hospital. But the implementation of that local measure has been bumpy, signaling potential problems for the larger effort.
Inglewood’s ordinance went into effect Jan. 1, raising the minimum wage for those workers to $25 an hour. Then in March, Centinela Hospital Medical Center, a 362-bed acute care facility owned by Prime Healthcare, laid off 48 workers and reduced hours for others (PDF), according to a complaint filed earlier this month by Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West. The local union led Inglewood’s measure, and its parent organization, SEIU California, is sponsoring the statewide bill.
The union alleges hospital administrators made the cuts in retaliation for the newly implemented wage increase, even though the city ordinance prohibits health facilities from funding the pay increase by laying off workers or reducing their benefits (PDF).
Centinela officials maintain that the hospital is complying with Inglewood’s minimum wage ordinance. They say they laid off workers after a thorough assessment that determined the hospital was overstaffed in certain units. Centinela offered nearly half of the affected staff other positions within the hospital and many accepted, according to a hospital spokesperson.
“The recent...
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