Ensign Group Inc. just bought the So. Cal rehab unit that several of my clients work at. While I was looking at ownership (at least a minority LDS), they were pulling up press articles referring to a 48 million dollar payout for Medicare fraud.

My client who is in a SSM asked if I thought his
marital status might lead to discrimination at work.

I said yes, and try to document thoroughly.

Does anyone have experience with this organization? The interim management is from SLC.

laperla not logged in Wrote:
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> My client who is in a SSM asked if I thought his
> marital status might lead to discrimination at
> work.
>
> I said yes, and try to document thoroughly.
>
> Does anyone have experience with this
> organization? The interim management is from SLC.


Isn't it a damning indictment of the Church that this is even a valid question in this day and age.

I live in a state where municipal and state employers (such as the public school system) have benefits (like insurance) for domestic partners and same-sex spouses. So in a case like that, it would be to your advantage to list your spouse on your employment records.

If you live in a state where gay marriage isn't recognized yet and there isn't any precedent for "partner" benefits, I would be very cautious about showing such info on employee records. If you pick up the faintest whiff of discrimination, you can either leave your job or delete the "spouse" info from your personnel records.

That's a shame, but it's economic reality.

If it involves Medicare fraud, it is likely LDS, yes.

Anything that says "Ensign" is representative of the church itself. As in "Ensign Fund," "Ensign Peak," etc. Yes, it is the church. Fraud is its name.

My buddies ask if they should be looking for a new job. I said yes and referred them to this board.

One of the former VPs, who was also Chief Counsel, is the current Stake President in the area where he resides. When the $50,000,000 Medicare fine was announced, the members all had the same story to tell non-members: that he was brought in to the company to clean up the mess. Most likely everyone in the stake got the same explanatory e-mail, and no members seemed to have any inkling of how deeply he was involved in the company.

Turns out he'd been there 15 years at the time of the fine. Also, he and his wife own significant blocks of the company shares. Doesn't sound like he was brought in as a short term Mr Fix-it---he's one of the principals.

http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=34392924&ticker=ENSG

Evidently he became the "former chief counsel" in the past year.

http://investor.caretrustreit.com/management.cfm



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/05/2014 11:26PM by PtLoma.

That's very illuminating! I pass it on.

One guy that originally asked about Ensign said:

I only knew one Mormon family growing up in Boston. The girl my age kept talking about how her Mormon family had higher standards than the rest of the class, but both her sisters were unwed mothers and dropped out of school.

All these Ensign workers are skilled per diem/contract workers just a few days a week so they can easily work elsewhere.

Let me tell you something about this company. The discriminate if you are not Mormon and use illegal interview tactics. If you are in Arizona and apply for work at Ensign and are not Mormon, you are not getting the job. No matter how awesomely qualified you are and no matter how much money you can make them. You may be awesome at your job and capable of bringing in a ton of revenue. Your mother in law could be the chief heart surgeon at the local hospital (in which case mine is) and she could refer tons of patients. If you are not Mormon, you won't get the job. Ensign is run by a bunch of 20-something year old Mormons who are clueless to how diversity can actually enhance a workplace.

Does this refer to the Ensign magazine also? I've been reading it for decades. Shame because it has some articles ( except Conference).
I do like the Liahona better. I read it more, especially the stories from other countries. I have a couple other magazines ( non church related )that I've been getting since the 80s, that I never read anymore either

No. Ensign Group uses a "Mo-cabulary" word (Ensign) but is not owned by the LDS Church. Most of its officers are Mormon. As ChandlerMonks posted above, they have a history of hiring discrimination.

Thank goodness they are in So.Cal. At least they have a fighting chance!

Things maybe changing. A recent article by Apostle Rasband encourages mormons to no longer discriminate. lgbt are now suppose to get equal treatment for housing and employment. I guess BYU is no longer holding to the honor code for housing? Mormons are suppose to accept everyone now? soon Gays will be working in the COB, I guess, even though at conference they'll say it's a sin and all?

The bretheren seem to beginning to straddle the fence. Not on one side or the other. It's getting confusing.

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2016/09/faith-fairness-and-religious-freedom?lang=eng

<<soon Gays will be working in the COB>>

You mean openly. I'm pretty sure there are plenty there already.

I worked for this company for over 2 years in Salt Lake City. I can't say that I saw any overt, blatant discrimination against non-mormons. I think this might be more common if working for them in some managerial capacity.

The huge Medicare fine they had to pay also resulted in all employees having to take 40 hours of training every year and pass tests on the material. (I went through it twice... very tedious.)

I would not go back and work for them again primarily because of a a mid-level manager (who was not even my direct boss) who is still there as a regional-level mgr and who is quite the asshole. But the company was okay for most of my 2 years.

Dear Wrongfully Terminated,
I was an administrator with another company when Ensign purchased the property. I had only been there 9 months, and a 20 plus year administrator. Both the DON and BOM did not receive offers to continue employment along with myself. I was warned about the practice of not retaining administrators because they are overpaid and have too much experience and would not fit into their way of doing business the Mormon way. I was never given the opportunity to speak with them about my future. I was informed by my current COO that I would not be getting an offer from Ensign, with no reason given. I feel like this is discrimination based on religious preference-hiring young Mormon men to run the properties; all former AIT's in their system, waiting for the next available opening. By the way, this makes 10 Ensign properties in my market clusterfk. With them gobbling up all of these properties, it's slowly going to push non-mormon older administrators out of the business. Did you file a lawsuit for wrongful termination?

I was hired in Texas in Keystone for a brand new building. I have 5 years experience as a LNHA. I was informed that as a women that I will open the building and then they would replace me with a male administrator. I didn't believe this, so I set out to show them what I was made of. Quickly, I realized that the warnings were correct. I received no training in the ensign ways and when I asked for help I got none. I have many emails and texts asking and begging for training from the cluster and got nothing. I did what I could with no help. Passed the initial certification survey with zero deficiency. We opened and had normal issues arise of a new building, including staffing challenges and systems Implementation, however everything was improving through our quality improvement plan. Then the Market leader came and said I was not fitting in the culture. I explained about needing training and he said it was my own fault, that I needed to go to another building and sit in the lobby and not leave till someone would train me. Thats unacceptable!!. I continued to give my all, 7 days a week, I worked and most often 12+ hours a day. The facility was coming together and financials were moving in the right direction. Then I was informed, I still was not meeting the culture and within a few weeks I was terminated. The next day a 12+ year Ensign male administrator walked in ( best friend of the market leader). Let me also add, when I started there was 3 women ED's needless to say I was the last female terminated, so now they are all male and 99% of them are Morman. I am sorry but after investigating(even regional resource staff believe my termination was due to ulterior motives.) This is a long standing pattern for the Keystone North region. Considering lawsuit.

Does this company do medical processing for Dr offices? What is the nature or specialty service within the medical business realm Ensign performs?


I suppose you did get the warning and your efforts were wasted. You got the boot simply for breathing and not versed enough to fit in with the good ol Mormon boy club.

Dear Wrongfully Terminated,
I was an administrator with another company when Ensign purchased the property. I had only been there 9 months, and a 20 plus year administrator. Both the DON and BOM did not receive offers to continue employment along with myself. I was warned about the practice of not retaining administrators because they are overpaid and have too much experience and would not fit into their way of doing business the Mormon way. I was never given the opportunity to speak with them about my future. I was informed by my current COO that I would not be getting an offer from Ensign, with no reason given. I feel like this is discrimination based on religious preference-hiring young Mormon men to run the properties; all former AIT's in their system, waiting for the next available opening. By the way, this makes 10 Ensign properties in my market clusterfk. With them gobbling up all of these properties, it's slowly going to push non-mormon older administrators out of the business. Did you file a lawsuit for wrongful termination?

Better to use anon than swipe another's name.