Thomas-Davis claims settled after 10 years, Doctors, staff of closed clinics win long fight

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.azstarnet.com/business/229227

Doctors, staff of closed clinics win long fight vs. former employer
By Becky Pallack
Arizona Daily Star

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 03.12.2008

Payday has taken 10 years to arrive for the doctors and staff of the former Thomas-Davis Medical Centers.

About 300 former Thomas-Davis employees will get checks ranging from from $500 to $263,000 owed to them by the bankrupt parent company, FPA Medical Management.




All they have to do is wait a little longer.

The local doctors' group made the national news back in 1997 when they made the unusual decision to join a union to fight their employer on increased workloads and cuts in pay and malpractice insurance agreements.

With the backing of their union, the Federation of Physicians and Dentists, and the National Labor Relations Board, the doctors and their staff won an unfair-labor-practices case in federal district court.

But before they could be paid what they were owed as a result of the company's policy changes, the company filed for bankruptcy in 1998. The clinics — which were founded in 1920 and grew to be an important part of the local health-care industry — closed. The doctors and staff members all lost their jobs, and about 150,000 patients were affected.

FULL story at link.