The second-highest paid Los Angeles County employee made nearly $790,000 last year, but he didn’t show up to work a single day, newly released salary data show.
Dr. Gail V. Anderson Jr., the former chief medical officer of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, was paid $787,250.91 in pay and benefits in 2014, according to the salary data from L.A. County. His pay included salary and benefits from portions of 2012, all of 2013 and about half of 2014 as part of a settlement Anderson reached with the county as a result of his termination in 2012, according to a county spokesman.
Anderson was fired in July 2012. He challenged the termination to the Civil Service Commission and filed a defamation lawsuit against the county. In settlement over the litigation, Anderson received back pay and was offered his old job back as head of the hospital in an unincorporated area of the county near Torrance. Almost immediately after he was reinstated, he decided to retire, according to county spokesman Joel Sappell. Anderson did not return to work at the hospital.
In August 2011, Anderson was placed on paid administrative leave and escorted out of the hospital amid an investigation, according to news reports. He was fired about a year later.
• Database: 2014 salary data for L.A. County
While Anderson was on administrative leave for about 11 months in 2011 and 2012, he was required to stay at home during work hours.
Anderson’s defamation lawsuit targeted Department of Health Services Director Dr. Mitchell H. Katz and DHS Chief Medical Officer Dr. Hal F. Yee Jr., alleging they leaked news of Anderson’s departure to the Los Angeles Times and Daily Breeze in Torrance. DHS oversees all of the county’s hospitals. Anderson alleged defamation, libel, slander and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The lawsuit and appeal to the Civil Service Commission were dropped as a result of the settlement.
The county was unable to provide the reason for Anderson’s firing late Monday.
The Times, citing unnamed sources, reported in 2011 that authorities were probing the hospital’s process of reviewing doctors’ credentials and background information as well as Anderson’s own credentials.
Anderson did not respond to a request for comment.
The physician led Harbor-UCLA Medical Center as its chief medical officer for 13 years before he was placed on leave in 2011.
Anderson graduated from USC Keck School of Medicine in 1976, according to the Medical Board of California. His medical license is current and active. Anderson does not have any disciplinary actions against him, according to the state medical board.
County salary records show Anderson was paid $483,095 in salary and benefits in 2012. He was the 18th highest-paid county employee that year.
In 2011, Anderson was paid $555,217 in salary and benefits. He was the second-highest paid employee that year.
The highest-paid of the county’s nearly 100,000 employees in 2014 was neurosurgeon Dr. John Gruen, who is a chief physician at L.A. County-USC Medical Center. Gruen earned $839,122.11 in pay and benefits, data shows.
