The Santa Barbara-based employment law firm Anticouni & Associates is suing the Sansum Clinic for alleged violations of the California Labor Code, including the failure to pay overtime compensation, and requiring employees to work “off the clock” and during their lunch breaks.
The lawsuit was filed on Nov. 25 in Santa Barbara Superior Court and lists Dianne Pizzi, a Sansum employee from 2006 to Nov. 24, 2015, as a plaintiff. A press release sent out by the law firm said the lawsuit was filed on behalf of approximately 500 former and present Sansum employees.
“Sansum Clinic is a world class medical facility with excellent doctors,” law firm founder Bruce Anticouni said in the press release. “Sansum continuously informs its managers and supervisors to restrict employees from working overtime and from taking late lunch periods. Unfortunately, some Sansum managers choose to falsify time records to do so.”
The clinic has locations in Santa Barbara, Lompoc, Solvang, Carpinteria, and Goleta providing multi-specialty medical services including urgent care, pediatric, surgical, cancer care, cardiology, and family care. Jill Fonte, Sansum’s public information officer, said making any comments on the lawsuit would be premature at this point.
“We will respond appropriately after reviewing the allegations. I can assure you that we do take paying overtime and appropriate wages very seriously,” she wrote in an email to the Sun.
This article appears in Dec 3-10, 2015.
