Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and other CareGroup Inc. affiliates have agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit against the hospital chain alleging that workers were not paid for working through lunch breaks or beyond their scheduled shifts. The $8.5 million settlement, if given court approval, will cover as many as 9,000 current and former employees. The settlement includes payment to cover back wages for workers who claimed they were not paid overtime for working beyond their shift, or who worked through their lunch without pay.

  June 9, 2010 Beth Israel Settles Overtime Lawsuit

June 9, 2010 Boston hospital group settles overtime lawsuit

June 9, 2010 Overtime lawsuit costs Beth Israel Deaconess and parent CareGroup $8.5 million

June 9, 2010 Overtime lawsuit costs Beth Israel Deaconess and parent CareGroup $8.5 million

June 9, 2010 Mass. hospitals agree to settle overtime lawsuit

June 9, 2010 Boston hospital group settles overtime lawsuit

June 9, 2010 Beth Israel parent OKs payout

June 8, 2010 CareGroup: Up to $8.5 million in O.T. case

June 8, 2010 Beth Israel, CareGroup settle overtime lawsuit

BIDMC Hospital Executives under the microscope after receiving large bonuses, hefty salaries and other major perks.

An investigative report by WCVB-TV Channel 5 reveals that several senior level executives at BIDMC were paid large bonuses, hefty salaries as well as stipends for cellular phones and parking in the same year that 70 BIDMC employees were laid off.

Nov. 25, 2009: Nonprofit Execs Pocket Large Salaries, Perks State Review Under Way

There couldn’t be a worse time to increase
healthcare costs for BI employees and their families.

For many employees at Beth Israel Deaconess, it’s a struggle to make ends meet this time of year. Now, hospital administration is hitting them with increased health insurance premiums of as much as 15% while asking them to accept decreases in coverage.

Last year, the administration cut their earned time off, retirement benefits and raises. They shouldn’t have to spend more for their own healthcare.

Click here to view PDF of postcard

Click here to hear the phone call sent out to workers at Beth Israel Deaconess

Superior court rules former Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center chief can proceed in court with her sexual discrimination lawsuit.

Dr. Carol Warfield, former anesthesiology chief at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, can proceed in court with her lawsuit. BIDMC had sought for her case to be heard by an arbitrator.

Warfield’s suit alleges years of abusive and demeaning treatment by former surgery chief Josef Fischer and seeks millions of dollars in damages from Fischer, BIDMC, and CEO Paul Levy.

According to the Boston Globe, Warfield’s attorney noted that “The reality is that Mr. Transparency has been trying to keep the lid on this case,’’ and suggested the “open vetting’’ of Warfield’s case will produce evidence embarrassing to Levy and Beth Israel Deaconess.

This is an important victory for Massachusetts workers who confront discrimination or retaliation on the job.

July 28, 2009: Doctor can take Beth Israel to court: SJC says she has right to sue despite arbitration clause

June 4, 2009: Childhood Game of 'Tag' In Boston ED Changes to 'Assassin'

BI’s ER staff engaged in a variation of the game of “tag” in which staff monitored each other in order to incentivize improving hand washing compliance and avoiding infection transmission prior to a federal review. Despite BI’s focus on transparency and a blame-free culture, a few members of the staff, including nurses, physicians, and technicians, became “nervous” and asked to stop the game because in a time of layoffs “they felt that anything might come back and haunt them,” according to ED chief Richard Wolfe.

To ensure that Boston’s working families are able to have secure lives, raise healthy children, and send them to college, our caregivers must have high quality jobs. Yet many Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center workers struggle to provide for their families.

A total of 1,367 Beth Israel workers and their dependents relied on tax payer funded health insurance in 2008, an increase of 17% since 2007. This cost Massachusetts taxpayers $1.8 million, a 50% increase from the prior year. This runs counter to statewide trends – the Massachusetts Taxpayer Federation recently found that private coverage accounts for nearly half of the newly insured since passage of health care reform.

As one of the largest employers in Boston, Beth Israel Deaconess should take a leadership role in offering jobs with dignity, fair living wages, affordable health insurance for caregivers and their children, and retirement security. It is not only low-wage workers who lack workplace rights and respect. Physicians and residents also deserve high quality jobs. Recently, a lawsuit was filed by a leading Boston physician accusing BIDMC and Paul Levy of gender discrimination and retaliation. In addition, an accreditation organization cited the hospital because resident surgeons were working 90 hours a week, in violation of national safety rules.

October 13, 2008: Valor and fear in surgeons
Dr. Steven Bergman examines why there have been violations of safety limits on the work hours of resident surgeons at BIDMC. Bergman believes resident surgeons may fear losing their place in “the pecking order” and be disrespected within the hospital hierarchy.  Dr. Bergman states: "There have been reports of frequent violations of time restrictions, residents working more than 80 hours a week, or being off duty for less than the specified 10 hours at a time."

September 7, 2008: Beth Israel Cited for Resident Hours
The accreditation organization overseeing graduate medical education cited BIDMC for surgical residents working up to 90 hours a week, which violates national safety rules.

July 26, 2008: Doctor in Bias Suit Asked to Resign
Synopsis: A BIDMC doctor accused of a pattern of gender discrimination and retaliation whose conduct, according to the lawsuit, was defended by the CEO for years, resigns.

March 8, 2008: Physician Alleges Gender Bias against Beth Israel Hospital- Says She Faced Abuse, Demotion Synopsis: A leading Boston physician sues BIDMC and its CEO Paul Levy claiming that she was demoted in retaliation for bringing allegations of gender discrimination to light. Read the lawsuit

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