Union Seeks to Bar Schabarum Vote on Hospital

Los Angeles County’s largest employee union sought a court order Monday to prevent Supervisor Pete Schabarum from voting on a measure that could lead to the shift of hundreds of County-USC Medical Center staffers to the USC payroll.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Warren Deering, after hearing arguments by attorneys representing both Schabarum and the Service Employees International Union, Local 660, postponed a decision, and did not indicate whether he planned to rule before the supervisors consider the employee transfer this morning.

Schabarum issued a statement Monday saying that he intends to vote for the transfer. Only two of the five supervisors, Deane Dana and Mike Antonovich, are definitely in favor of the transfer, so without Schabarum’s vote, the proposal could be in jeopardy.

Union lawyers contended in a lawsuit that Schabarum must disqualify himself from voting on the transfer because he leases property to National Medical Enterprises. NME, the nation’s second-largest hospital management corporation, is a partner with USC in an agreement to build a $100-million specialty-care teaching hospital a short distance from County-USC Medical Center.

Last month, Schabarum disqualified himself from voting on the agreement that paved the way for NME and USC to buy the county land for the new teaching facility. At the time, Schabarum explained that he leased a small amount of property to NME in Rialto in San Bernardino County and therefore a conflict of interest would exist if he voted.

But on Monday, Schabarum’s chief deputy, Mike Lewis, said the supervisor was advised by the county counsel that no conflict exists in the proposed shift of 620 medical school faculty members, as well as 884 interns and residents, from the county payroll to USC’s.

“This (transfer) doesn’t have anything to do with NME,” Lewis said. “It only has to do with who provides what services and staff to the medical center.”

Under the proposal, existing employees would have a choice of remaining with the county. When they retire or leave, however, their jobs would be transferred to the USC payroll. Under the new system, the medical staff would be USC employees and would bill the county for actual services performed.