Providence Lawsuit Verdicts, Settlements, and Penalties

Providence Health & Services, one of the largest nonprofit hospital systems in the western United States, has been the subject of a string of high-dollar lawsuits and government enforcement actions over the past several years. The Providence lawsuits span wage theft, aggressive medical debt collection, retirement plan mismanagement, denial of emergency abortion care, and pregnancy discrimination, and together they have produced hundreds of millions of dollars in judgments, settlements, and debt relief. Several matters remain unresolved.

The $229 Million Washington Wage Verdict

The largest financial judgment against Providence to date came out of a 2021 class action filed by two employees, Naomi Bennett and Janet Hughes, on behalf of more than 33,000 hourly healthcare workers in Washington state. Bennett v. Providence Health & Services alleged the system shortchanged nurses, technicians, medical assistants, and other hourly caregivers two ways: through a timeclock rounding system that shaved pay in 15-minute increments, and by failing to provide or compensate workers for legally required second meal breaks on shifts longer than ten hours.¹

A King County Superior Court judge ruled in January 2024 that Providence had willfully committed the wage violations, and the company withdrew its good-faith defenses. At a two-week trial in April 2024, a jury awarded roughly $90.3 million for missed meal breaks and $9.3 million for the rounding scheme, minus about $1.3 million for employees who had voluntarily waived breaks. Because the violations were deemed willful, the court doubled the damages under Washington law and added statutory interest, bringing the total judgment to $229,579,095.62. Trial evidence showed Providence had failed to pay for more than 234,000 hours of work over a five-year period covering September 2018 through May 2023.¹

Providence appealed. On October 27, 2025, the Washington Court of Appeals, Division One, affirmed the trial court in full in an unpublished opinion, upholding the liability ruling, class certification, willfulness finding, and doubled damages.² Class counsel were approved for roughly $70 million in attorney fees, or 30 percent of the award.³

Charity Care and Medical Debt: $157.8 Million in Relief

In February 2022, then–Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued 14 Providence hospitals, alleging the system had failed to tell tens of thousands of low-income patients they were eligible for charity care and had instead used aggressive billing tactics to pressure payment. The investigation, which began in 2020 after complaints at Providence affiliate Swedish Health Services, ultimately identified more than 100,000 violations of Washington’s Consumer Protection Act between 2018 and 2023.⁴

The state said Providence had trained staff with scripts instructing them not to “accept the first no” from patients and to pursue collections before offering financial assistance information. More than 54,000 low-income patients, including people enrolled in Medicaid, were sent to outside debt collectors, generating over $70 million in collection accounts.⁵

On February 1, 2024, Providence entered a court-enforceable agreement to provide roughly $157.8 million in relief to nearly 100,000 patients. That included $137.2 million in medical debt forgiveness for about 65,000 patients, $20.6 million in refunds with 12 percent interest to roughly 34,000 patients, and $4.5 million in investigative costs paid to the state. The Attorney General’s Office called it the largest resolution of its kind in the country.⁶

2026 Pregnancy Discrimination Lawsuit

On May 13, 2026, Washington Attorney General Nick Brown filed suit against Providence in King County Superior Court, alleging the system routinely denied reasonable accommodations to pregnant and nursing employees and retaliated against workers who requested them. The state claims Providence violated the Healthy Starts Act and the Washington Law Against Discrimination through practices dating back to at least 2021.⁷

According to the complaint, denied accommodations included schedule flexibility for prenatal visits, limits on heavy lifting, more opportunities to sit, and private space for expressing breast milk. Even where accommodations were granted on paper, the state alleges Providence often failed to implement them, and employees sometimes waited up to a month for responses while continuing to work without safeguards.⁸ Workers who sought exemptions, the state alleges, were terminated, forced onto leave, assigned more physically demanding duties, reprimanded, harassed, or in some instances subjected to physical force.⁹

The state is seeking an injunction and damages for affected employees. Providence said it was disappointed the state chose to litigate and remained committed to “working in good faith to reach an appropriate resolution.” The Attorney General’s Office said pre-filing talks had failed. The case is active, and the state is accepting complaints from current and former employees of Providence and its affiliates, including Kadlec, Swedish, and PacMed.⁷

Emergency Abortion Denial in California

In February 2024, Anna Nusslock, a chiropractor who was 15 weeks pregnant with twins, went to Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka, California, with a non-viable pregnancy and immediate health risks. According to her account and later legal filings, the hospital declined to perform an emergency abortion, telling her she was not “sufficiently close to death.” She was transported to another facility while hemorrhaging and received emergency care at Mad River Community Hospital.¹⁰

In September 2024, California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the hospital in Humboldt County Superior Court, alleging violations of California’s Emergency Services Law and the Unruh Civil Rights Act and citing Nusslock’s experience along with at least one other patient’s denial of care.¹¹ The following month, Providence entered a court-enforceable stipulation agreeing to comply with California law, including performing pregnancy terminations when a physician’s professional judgment determined it necessary to prevent serious health harm. The stipulation also barred the hospital from discharging patients with instructions to transport themselves elsewhere.¹²

The dispute escalated in 2025 when Providence signaled it planned to modify the stipulation, asserting it was not required to perform terminations prohibited by its Catholic “Ethical and Religious Directives.” According to the Attorney General, Providence proposed an internal policy prohibiting emergency abortions unless the procedure was the “only alternative to the certain death” of the patient. The state moved in June 2025 to enforce the original order. On August 29, 2025, the court left the stipulation in place and directed the state to seek a formal preliminary injunction, which it filed in October 2025.¹¹ Nusslock filed her own personal lawsuit in April 2025, seeking a permanent injunction extended to all St. Joseph facilities in California.¹⁰ Providence has moved to dismiss the state’s case on First Amendment religious freedom grounds.

Retirement Plan Cases

Church Plan ERISA Settlement: $351 Million

In 2014, employees sued Providence in Griffith v. Providence Health & Services (W.D. Wash., Case No. 2:14-cv-01720) on behalf of roughly 73,000 pension plan participants. They alleged Providence had improperly claimed its cash balance retirement plan qualified as a “church plan” exempt from the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, allowing it to avoid ERISA’s minimum funding requirements, required disclosures, and Department of Labor filings.¹³

On March 21, 2017, the court granted final approval of a $351 million settlement. Providence agreed to contribute $350 million to the plan over seven years, pay up to $1.9 million to about 3,800 nonvested former participants, and make annual minimum contributions recommended by the plan’s actuary to work toward fully funding the plan by December 31, 2029.¹⁴

401(k) Forfeiture Settlement: $43 Million

In February 2026, Providence reached a proposed settlement worth more than $42.7 million in a class action covering approximately 202,000 plan participants and beneficiaries dating back to January 2018. The suit alleged Providence took funds forfeited by departing employees and used them to reduce the company’s own matching contributions, rather than to cover plan administrative expenses as required by ERISA.¹⁵

Under the proposed terms, Providence will transfer more than $21 million from its forfeiture account into individual participant accounts, roughly $106 per class member on average, and pay $15.3 million to cover the plan’s recordkeeping and administrative expenses for 2026 through 2028, along with $6 million in attorney fees. The settlement was pending federal court approval in early 2026.¹⁵

Other Wage and Regulatory Actions

Oregon Genesis Payroll Settlement

Hourly employees in Oregon sued over problems from the rollout of a payroll system called Genesis. Aguilar et al. v. Providence Health & Services – Oregon (Case No. 22CV27153) alleged the system’s launch caused missed and late wage payments. The case settled for $2 million covering non-exempt employees who worked for the Oregon division between July 8, 2022, and March 31, 2023. Class members received automatic base payments between $40 and $75, with the option to submit claims for up to $1,000 each for unpaid wages and late-payment penalties.¹⁶

Alarcon: Class Certification Denied

Alarcon v. Providence Health & Services, another Washington case alleging off-the-clock work and missed meal and rest breaks, went the other way for workers. The Washington Court of Appeals reversed class certification, citing significant variation in job duties and timekeeping practices, and on June 6, 2025, the Washington Supreme Court declined review.¹⁷

Pending California Wage Class Action

Garcia v. Providence Medical Foundation (Case No. CIVSB2229073), pending in San Bernardino County Superior Court, alleges violations of California labor law including unpaid overtime, missed rest breaks, inaccurate pay stubs, and failure to reimburse business expenses. It covers current and former hourly, non-exempt employees in California since October 31, 2018. The case had not reached class certification or settlement as of the most recent available information.¹⁸

NLRB Charge in Seattle

In January 2026, SEIU Healthcare 1199NW filed an unfair labor practice charge against Providence Swedish Medical Group in Seattle (Case No. 19-CA-379278), alleging unlawful discharge, retaliation against workers engaged in concerted activity, and coercive conduct including surveillance. As of the most recent docket entry, no formal complaint had issued and no settlement had been reached.¹⁹

HIPAA Penalty

Providence Medical Institute was assessed a $240,000 civil monetary penalty by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights over a series of ransomware attacks in early 2018 that exposed the health information of roughly 85,000 individuals. Investigators found the institute had failed to maintain a required business associate agreement and lacked adequate access controls. The penalty, announced in October 2024, was not contested.²⁰

Excluded Employee Penalty

In June 2020, Providence Health System–Southern California, doing business as Providence Little Company of Mary, self-disclosed to the HHS Office of Inspector General that it had employed an individual excluded from federal healthcare programs. The entity agreed to pay $141,562 to resolve the matter under the Civil Monetary Penalties Law.²¹

1
PR Newswire. Providence Health & Services Ordered to Pay Over $229 Million in Landmark Wage Violation Verdict
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Justia. Naomi Bennett v. Providence Health & Services
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Law360. Wash. Hospital Workers Keep $230M Wage Win, Attys Get 30%
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Seattle Times. Providence Hospitals Must Forgive Medical Debt in Charity Care Lawsuit
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Washington Attorney General. AG Ferguson: Judge Orders Providence Debt Collector Optimum Outcomes to Pay $827,000
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Fierce Healthcare. Providence Agrees to $158M in Refunds, Debt Erasure to Settle Charity Care Billing Investigation
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Washington Attorney General. AG Brown Sues Providence Health Services Over Illegal Treatment of Pregnant and Nursing Employees
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KREM. Washington AG Sues Providence Health Alleging Illegal Mistreatment of Pregnant, Nursing Employees
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KUOW. Washington AG Accuses Providence of Mistreating Pregnant and Nursing Staff
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Los Angeles Times. Catholic Hospital Chain Emergency Abortion Denial Lawsuit
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California Attorney General. Attorney General Bonta Files Motion for Preliminary Injunction to Continue Ensuring Access to Emergency Abortion Care
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California Attorney General. Attorney General Bonta Moves to Enforce Court Order Against Providence St. Joseph
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Cohen Milstein. Providence Health Services Church Plan Litigation
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PlanAdviser. Settlement Reached for Providence Health Church Plan Challenge
15
Fierce Healthcare. Providence, Former Employee Reach $43M Settlement Over 401(k) Mismanagement Class Action
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Genesis Wage Settlement. Class Notice
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HKM Employment Attorneys. Seattle’s June 2025 Employment & Labor Law Cases
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Providence Lawsuit. Garcia v. Providence Medical Foundation
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NLRB. Case 19-CA-379278
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Healthcare IT News. OCR Fines Providence $240,000 in Ransomware Case
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HHS OIG. Providence Health System Southern California Agreed to Pay for Allegedly Violating the Civil Monetary Penalties Law