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Measure M, the voter approved initiative to cap executives salaries at El Camino Hospital, has been declared unconstitutional by Santa Clara County Superior Court judge.
In a ruling filed on July 17, Superior Court Judge Socrates P. Manoukian wrote, “El Camino Hospital may provide compensation to its administrators, executives and managers without regard to the limit imposed by Measure M.”
Introduced through the initiative process, Measure M sought to limit the amount anyone working for El Camino Hospital could earn to no more than twice the salary of the governor of California — a cap that would have impacted the organization’s top six executives.
Proponents of the measure, which initially included a local chapter of the SEIU-UHW, argued that voters had a right to limit executive pay, because El Camino receives taxpayer dollars from the El Camino Healthcare District. However, opponents — including many on the hospital and health care district board — argued from the start that the initiative was misguided.
Hospital officials said that El Camino does not use money collected from taxpayers to pay any employee’s salary, and maintained that limiting the amount the hospital could offer its executive team would severely limit the hospital’s competitiveness in the region.
From the outset, hospital officials questioned the constitutionality of the initiative. In the end, those suspicions were confirmed by the court.
Manoukian explained in his ruling that the initiative was unconstitutional for two key reasons. First, he wrote, “the statutory initiative does not apply to local health care districts.” Secondly, “Measure M does not enact a statute or ordinance, and therefore is not within the initiative power.”
Officials with the hospital said they were happy with the ruling.
“We are pleased with the court’s decision, which will enable El Camino Hospital to continue to deliver high-quality and compassionate care by recruiting and retaining a strong leadership team,” Neal Cohen, chair of the hospital’s board of directors, said in a statement.
The SEIU-UHW, the union that initially pushed to get Measure M on the ballot, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Oh cripes! Skyrocketing health care cost $$’s to pay exhorbitant salaries to these “entitled” six 1%-er’s and how does that improve the care I’d recieve from ECH staff? Reduce the salaries of the “entitled” folks and raise the salaries of nursing staffs.
What a waste of time. Couldn’t they figure this out before it went on the ballot? Oh wait, silly me, I was thinking this was a democracy. My bad.
Man, why is it everyone forgets the people who run El Camino are elected?
If we don’t like what they are doing, don’t vote for them.
I see this time and time again. We complain about what our elected REPRESENTATIVES are doing but somehow don’t connect our votes with our disapproval.
We get what we deserve. Vote accordingly.
No big surprises here other than a majority of the voters thought it was OK to violate the constitution.
So what if the taxpayer money is not being spent on salaries? Money is money. If they’re getting that money they can spend it on other things. Eventually it all goes into the same pot. Who besides the stupid court is being fooled by this stupid argument? Where is the OUTRAGE?!
“If we don’t like what they are doing, don’t vote for them.”
They are all the same. Name just one who volunteered to take a pay cut and then followed through with it. A meaningless choice is not a choice at all.
Communist China calls itself a democracy as well.
Recall drive for Judge Socrates P. Manoukian!
Who will sign the petition?
It always bring a smile to my face when the SEIU loses. They really ought not to exist.
First off, we are not a democracy. We are republic.
But if you think our votes don’t matter then what’s the point of anything else? The courts are full of judges either directly elected or appointed by people we elect.
What you’re saying is the people we’re hiring to run things aren’t acting like employees anymore.
While I can see why you’d be skeptical I still say voting matters. While I don’t think there are any people in office willing to take a voluntary pay cut I do think they’ll listen if they think they’ll be voted out of office.
That’s a 100% paycut after all.
“While I don’t think there are any people in office willing to take a voluntary pay cut I do think they’ll listen if they think they’ll be voted out of office.”
You’re rather naive. Sure, you vote them out of one office and they get themselves elected or appointed to another office. With a big pension. Then they retire early, start collecting the pension and go do the same job in some other city so they collect double incomes.
Time to wake up and realize how the public is being cheated by these miscreants.
I hope we can find another way to to limit the money these so called leaders are paid.
I have inside knowlege of this mess. The union and its employees wanted us, the voters, citizens, and customers of El Camino to understand the situation involving pay and benefit differences that have evolved at this hospital and how the situation has created an evironment that is bad for everyone. The hospital’s management has not been fair to its employees at times and continues to make themselves the first thing they consider. The working people show up and do a good job and only want to be able to afford to pay their bills while the management continues their quest to get rich off a two hospital corporation. This is not a huge medical entity and the people running it should set an example of taking less and giving more. There are so many people who give their time and money to El Camino and deserve credit for the good they do. This was the kind of atmosphere that existed at one time and it would be nice to see it in the news instead of the kind of infighting we see these days between the employees and management. The voters may not have understood the legality of Measure M, but they made it clear that they are tired of the elitist attitude of so many management people in corporate America these days. Those at the top live like the Romans and their greed will be the end of our whole society if they keep going down the path they are choosing. The fallout from this Measure M mess has had a really bad effect on some of those who stood up for the workers and will affect their careers and relationships for some time to come. A few people stood up to show support for the average worker and paid the price because the plan was not well thought out. It is for the rest of us to find the way to make changes to exorbitant pay and benefit packages that keep the average worker from making a decent living and fuel the business destroying greed at the top. Measure M was just an effort to curb the growing distance between the earnings of those at the top and those who work directly with the consumers. How much longer can we sustain this broken system that widens the gap between the working people and those who make so much. The American dream is slowly dying and with it will go this wonderful nation we are so proud of. We should all try to live within reason and when we see that our system is in need of repair be part of the solution and don’t just turn our backs on those who try to do something about it, but instead join in the cause to make things better for everyone. It is time for managemnt that considers unions to be an evil enemy to realize that they are just the representatives of the workers and in he end will have to answer to those same workers. Work it out or ruin it all? Maybe the ones in charge should try a different approach. The current cut and cut again system only results in poor customer service and hasn’t produced the desired effect. Level the playing field and see what happens. Everyone is important and valuable. Treat the that way and pay them well and everyone will profit. The end result is the best possible customer experience from the best employees.