MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.— El Camino Hospital filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn a voter-approved measure that limits what the public hospital could pay its executives. Officials from the two-campus Silicon Valley hospital filed a complaint in Santa Clara Superior Court in San Jose. The hospital and the six executives whose pay would be affected if the measure goes into effect want the court to declare the initiative invalid, and they're seeking a preliminary injunction to block the cap pending a ruling. Voters in the El Camino Hospital District approved Measure M in November, with 51.9% voting in favor. The measure limits hospital executive pay to twice what the California governor earns. Gov. Jerry Brown's salary is $165,000, meaning the measure would cap pay at $330,000 annually. El Camino President and CEO Tomi Ryba received $695,000 in base pay last year, and the board approved a performance bonus of $137,815 in November. As defendants in the lawsuit, the hospital names Kary Lynch, a hospital psychiatric tech, and Laura Huston, a certified nurse assistant, describing them as “the official proponents” of the measure. Both are members of Service Employees Union International-United Healthcare Workers West. An SEIU-UHW spokesman couldn't immediately be reached for comment. The hospital argues in the lawsuit that the pay limit hampers its ability to attract talented executives, and that the measure is invalid because the taxpayer-funded hospital district contributes no resources to executive compensation and has no discretion over what executives are paid, which is determined by the board of a legally separate not-for-profit corporation.
—Ashok Selvam