On July 24th, California Attorney General Rob Bonta held a press conference to announce the conclusion of his office's yearslong investigation into HCA Healthcare over allegations that the company's Specialty Training Apprenticeship for Registered Nurses (StaRN) training program violated the law by entrapping Nurses in employer-driven debt. Under the program, new graduate Nurses hired at HCA hospitals throughout the state were on the hook for the cost of mandatory training if they left the program within two years—even if their employment was terminated by HCA.

Pursuant to the settlement, HCA must pay more than $1 million in penalties to the state and $83,000 in restitution to Nurses who made payments on debt they incurred after leaving the program. Additionally, HCA is barred from pursuing collections against its former employees.

The Office of the Attorney General's press release specifies that HCA will:

• Pay approximately $83,000 to provide full restitution to California nurses who made payments on their TRAP debt to HCA.
• Be prohibited from imposing TRAPs on nurse employees and attempting to collect on the approximately $288,000 in outstanding TRAP debt incurred by California nurses who signed TRAPs with HCA.
• Pay $1,162,900 in penalties to California.
• HCA will pay a total of $2,900,000 in penalties under settlements filed in California, Colorado, and Nevada today.

In 2023, former SEIU 121RN member Jacqui Rum spoke to NBC Nightly News about the emotional stress she endured as a StaRN Nurse at Los Robles Regional Medical Center. At Los Robles, Rum faced the overwhelming pressure of unsafe staffing, and yet felt unable to walk away. She described her experience as akin to "indentured servitude." Our Union was instrumental in breaking that story, which led to the AG's legal action against HCA.

AG Bonta invited SEIU 121RN Vice President Monique Hernandez to share her perspective on the issue as a veteran HCA Nurse. You can watch Monique's comments at the press conference here.

HCA is the largest and most profitable for-profit hospital system in the country. The corporation is notorious for unsafe staffing and other practices that Nurses have expressed endanger patients and and put Nurse licenses at risk, as well as for union-busting.

Did you work as a StaRN Nurse at HCA? If you have questions about the settlement and your rights, contact your Union Rep/Organizer. You can find their info here.

“When nurses are working under duress, they are not free to be the best patient advocates they can be.” — Monique Hernandez, RN and Vice President, SEIU 121RN .