Be Aware: Some Urgent Care Workers May Be Getting $25 an Hour Soon

While it’s a bit unclear exactly whom it applies to at this point, Los Angeles just passed an ordinance mandating that workers at “certain private healthcare facilities” earn a minimum wage of $25 an hour. The question is which facilities that label will apply to in the eyes of the city. Some of them are straightforward in the language of the ordinance—licensed acute psychiatric hospital as defined in Section 1250(b) of the California Health and Safety Code, licensed skilled nursing facilities, licensed chronic dialysis clinics, and others. On the other hand, it also mentions “covered physician groups,” which the ordinance defines as “a  medical group practice, including a professional medical corporation as defined in Section 2406 of the California Business and Professions Code, another form of corporation controlled by physicians and surgeons, a medical partnership, or an independent practice association, provided that the group includes a total of 10 or more physicians.” As reported by the Los Angeles Times, the labor unions representing some workers point to heightened risk in the workplace due to COVID-19 as one rationale for the increase, while some hospital administrators claim the $25 figure is arbitrary and should not be applied across the board. In any case, as word spreads it’s likely other cities will see efforts to boost minimum wage for healthcare workers, too. Fortunately, the going hourly rate is only one aspect of keeping urgent care workers satisfied. For a reminder of other considerations important to team members, read Becoming The Employer of Choice for the Emerging Urgent Care Workforce in the JUCM archive.