April 22, 2015. A California assisted-living facility slapped California’s health department with a proposed class action in state court Thursday, saying the government failed to pay more than $1 million in fines for wrongly withholding reimbursement to 120 elderly care homes. Although the California Department of Health Care Services ultimately determined that its efforts in 2012 to cut reimbursements to plaintiff T. Michael LLC and other assisted-living centers by 10 percent was illegal and the withheld money should be repaid, the agency did not make the repayments until a year after the admission, Michael says in the complaint. The suit seeks $1.05 million in penalties for the late payment, plus interest, costs and fees on behalf of the putative class.
In February 2009, in the midst of a budget crisis, California passed a law reducing the maximum In-Home Supportive Services wage and benefit payments by 15 percent to $10.10 an hour, down from $12.10 per hour. The reductions would result in thousands of caregivers leaving the service, the complaint claims.
The case is T. Michael LLC v. Jennifer Kent et al., case number BC578286, in Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles.
