Sixteen Workers at L.A. County Clinic Suspended Over Criminal Histories
On Tuesday, Los Angeles County officials announced that 16 employees at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital's outpatient clinic had been suspended for not disclosing their criminal records, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Another employee with a criminal record was not suspended, but county officials did not offer an explanation.
The move comes after county officials drew criticism for not taking action against the employees earlier, despite county managers knowing that the workers had criminal records.
John Schunhoff, interim director of the county Department of Health Services, declined to say who failed to launch the disciplinary procedures.
County officials did not disclose what the crimes were, although county Supervisor Yvonne Burke indicated that a rape was among the offenses. County officials did not specify what positions the suspended employees held (Therolf, Los Angeles Times, 7/16).
Last year, King-Harbor terminated its inpatient services and transferred some workers to jobs at other county health care facilities.
CMS pulled $200 million in annual funding for the facility, which had been out of compliance with federal standards since January 2004 (California Healthline, 8/14/07).
Schunhoff said none of the employees who had been reassigned to other facilities had criminal histories that had escaped scrutiny (Los Angeles Times, 7/16).