Dignity Health Layoffs in Los Angeles: What Your Severance Agreement Means
Dignity Health, now part of CommonSpirit Health, operates multiple hospitals across the Los Angeles area, including Northridge Hospital Medical Center, California Hospital Medical Center in Downtown LA, and Glendale Memorial Hospital. If you've been laid off from a Dignity Health facility, you're holding a severance agreement from one of the largest nonprofit health systems in the country. Nonprofit doesn't mean generous. The offer you received was drafted by their legal team to protect the organization, not to compensate you fairly.
Severance Agreement Review
Not Sure If Your Severance Is Fair?
Our senior attorneys review severance agreements every day. If we can't negotiate a better deal, you pay nothing.
Free consultation · UCLA Law trained · 6,000+ cases handled
Here's what you need to know first: severance agreements are negotiable. The amount they offered, the benefits continuation, the restrictive clauses, all of it. Employees who have an attorney negotiate their severance consistently get better outcomes.
We handle severance negotiations on contingency. No upfront cost. Our fee comes only from the additional amount we negotiate above the initial offer. If we can't improve your package, you don't pay us. There is no financial risk to having your agreement reviewed.
WARN Act: Check the Numbers
California's WARN Act (Labor Code Sections 1400 through 1408) requires 60 days' advance written notice when 50 or more employees are laid off at a covered establishment. Dignity Health operates separate facilities across LA County, and the threshold applies per location. If 50 or more employees were affected at your hospital or facility, the WARN Act applies.
If Dignity Health didn't provide proper notice, you may be owed up to 60 days of pay and benefits on top of your severance package. That's a separate legal obligation. Make sure the severance agreement doesn't fold WARN pay into the total severance amount. Those are different things.
Healthcare Severance Has Specific Issues
Professional licensing. If you're a registered nurse, pharmacist, respiratory therapist, or any other licensed healthcare professional, read the severance agreement carefully for language that could affect your professional standing. The agreement should not characterize your departure in a way that creates issues with the Board of Registered Nursing, the California Board of Pharmacy, or any other licensing board.
Patient care documentation. Confidentiality clauses in healthcare severance often go beyond standard corporate confidentiality. HIPAA obligations exist regardless of the severance agreement, but make sure the agreement's confidentiality provisions don't restrict your ability to discuss your professional qualifications, your non-patient-related work experience, or workplace conditions that affected patient safety.
Credentials and references. In healthcare, credentialing is everything. When you apply to your next hospital, they will contact Dignity Health. What the credentialing office says about your departure matters more than a reference letter. Negotiate for neutral or positive language in your personnel file and clear documentation that your departure was a reduction in force.
Union Considerations
Many Dignity Health employees in Los Angeles are represented by unions, including SEIU-UHW and CNA. If you're a union member, your collective bargaining agreement may include provisions about layoff procedures, recall rights, bumping rights, and severance. These CBA protections exist independently of the individual severance agreement.
Before signing the severance agreement, talk to your union representative. Your CBA may entitle you to better terms. Signing the severance could waive recall rights that the CBA protects.
Health Insurance After Dignity Health
Losing your health benefits from a hospital system is particularly frustrating. COBRA allows you to continue coverage, but at the full unsubsidized premium. For a family plan, that can exceed $2,000 per month. Negotiating for 3 to 6 months of employer-paid COBRA continuation is a standard ask and can be worth $6,000 to $12,000 or more.
Standard Protections
Non-compete clauses are void in California under Business and Professions Code Section 16600. Dignity Health cannot prevent you from working at Cedars-Sinai, Kaiser, UCLA Health, Providence, or any other healthcare employer in Los Angeles.
If you're over 40, the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act gives you 45 days to review the agreement in a group layoff and 7 days to revoke after signing. Dignity Health must also provide written disclosure of ages and titles of employees selected and not selected for layoff.
Final pay, including all accrued PTO, is due on your last day under Labor Code Sections 201 through 203. Healthcare shift differentials, weekend premiums, and outstanding overtime should all be included.
If Dignity Health laid you off in Los Angeles, our employment attorneys can review your severance agreement and negotiate for better terms. We handle cases in LA County Superior Court. Free consultation.
What Our Clients Say
Real Results for Real People
"I worked with Curt Brown on a separation with my former employer. Curt was able to change the terms and the new outcome greatly benefited my family. Very pleased with the ethics and outcome."
Free consultation. If we can't negotiate better terms, you pay nothing.
- Warner Bros. Layoffs in Los Angeles: What Your Severance Agreement Means
- Severance Pay Instead of Notice in California: What's the Difference?
- Severance Package After 10+ Years in California: What You Should Expect
- Severance Clawback Clauses in California: Can They Take the Money Back?
- Severance and 401(k) Rollover in California: What Happens to Your Retirement
- Severance Agreement Says No Rehire: Is That Enforceable in California?
Talk to a senior attorney directly.
