A federal court of appeals on May 19 reinstated a lawsuit filed by a former employee of UC San Francisco alleging retaliation by the school.
Hieu Pham, MD, DDS, was a former dentist and instructor at the university who spent two days a week treating patients and earned 50 percent of a full-time salary. He alleges that a department chair retaliated against him after he and a colleague raised safety concerns about another employee. The suit alleges that the school later said they would cut Dr. Pham's pay to 40 percent of a full-time salary if he didn't agree to work an extra half day at the clinic for the same pay he was receiving. Dr. Pham alleges that he refused, and the school then responded by cutting his pay to 40 percent of a full-time salary and eliminated his benefits.
The school denies retaliation, stating that the cuts were justified because Dr. Pham was only working two days a week and was no longer teaching students or supervising the clinic. Dr. Pham also alleges that four other employees were retaliated against for complaints of staff misconduct.
A U.S. district judge dismissed the lawsuit in 2019, stating that the pay cuts were justified and that the four other employees were in different situations. However, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Dr. Pham may have presented evidence to support his allegations and that he was entitled to take his case to trial.
Dr. Pham worked at UCSF until last year. He currently owns a private practice in San Francisco.