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OCEANSIDE: Attorney orders Tri-City employees to remain silent
Another special meeting scheduled for Tuesday night
By PAUL SISSON - Staff Writer | ∞
OCEANSIDE ---- In a short memo sent by Tri-City Medical Center's new attorney, employees are asked to refrain from discussing any aspect of the ongoing financial investigation that has engulfed the public hospital.
The document, dated Jan. 6 and obtained from the hospital in a Public Records Act request, states that all hospital employees are "not to communicate with each other about the investigation, or related matters, while the investigation is pending."
The memo further prohibits "any communications with the employees under investigation regarding past or current hospital operations" without prior permission from the Tri-City's acting chief executive officer or its current attorney.
In a controversial closed-door meeting Dec. 18, four of the hospital board's seven members voted to hire accountant Michael Williams to conduct a forensic audit of Tri-City's finances.
At the same meeting, the board put eight hospital directors, including Chief Executive Arthur Gonzalez, on paid administrative leave.
The letter's final paragraph states that those who do discuss the investigation will be "subject to appropriate discipline."
Julie Biggs, the attorney who signed the letter, could not be reached for comment Monday night to discuss its content or the legal underpinnings of whether employees are being ordered to forego their First Amendment rights to free speech.
David Blair-Loy, legal director of the San Diego and Imperial counties American Civil Liberties Union, said ordering employees to refrain from discussing the investigation with one another may or may not be legal.
But he added that Biggs has no authority to keep employees from speaking to nonemployees.
"The letter raises free speech concerns," Blair-Loy said. "I'm not prepared to say that it's necessarily completely wrong, as long as it does not prohibit them from talking to the media or other third parties outside the hospital."
The hospital's seven-member board of directors is scheduled to hold another special meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Tri-City to discuss hiring an interim chief executive officer.
Tri-City faces loss of its liability insurance if it cannot prove that all of its officers and directors are qualified to hold their positions.
Contact staff writer Paul Sisson at (760) 901-4087 or psisson@nctimes.com.
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