The owners of a chain of nursing homes, including one in Hayward with a large coronavirus outbreak, have been accused in a lawsuit of fraudulently withholding their employees’ health insurance.
The suit, filed this week in San Francisco Superior Court, claims that Prema and Anthony Thekkek withheld money from workers paychecks that was supposed to go toward health coverage but never bought the policies. The workers have been without coverage since December, the suit claims and went through the same thing from January to May of 2019.
The employees “have universally been deprived of the full amount of their wages,” the suit alleges and have been “unable to seek medical care, visit their own physicians, and procure Americans.” Employees have been forced to pay “pay out-of-pocket” for medical expenses, it alleges.
The suit does not mention any coronavirus cases or illnesses suffered by employees. It seeks class-action status to involve workers at 16 skilled nursing facilities the Thekkeks own across the state, including ones in Alameda, Sonoma, Solano, Contra Costa, San Joaquin and San Mateo counties.
The Thekkeks, of Alamo in Contra Costa County, did not immediately respond to messages Friday. Lawyers who filed the suit were also not immediately available for comment.
Staff writer Ethan Barron contributed to this report.
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