CLEVELAND, Ohio — Former MetroHealth System President and CEO Dr. Akram Boutros acted beyond his authority in unilaterally setting year-end goals, evaluating himself against those goals and awarding himself $1.98 million in bonuses based on self-evaluations, the health system said in a court filing Monday.
“When confronted, Dr. Boutros, admitted that he had not discussed the supplemental bonus with the Board (of trustees) and had never disclosed to the board the amount he awarded himself,” MetroHealth said in the response to a lawsuit Boutros filed after being fired by the public hospital in November.
MetroHealth said bonuses awarded that way over five years were not permitted: “The unambiguous language of the Board’s resolutions authorizing a performance-based incentive program stated that ‘the Board will set goals for the System and for the President and Chief Executive Officer and the President and Chief Executive Officer will set goals for senior leadership.’ "
Yet, according to the MetroHealth filing, Boutros did not make “any effort to inform the Board that he had crafted his own supplemental bonus program. To the contrary, he concealed it.”
The board fired Boutros in November, saying it didn’t know about those payments, though it was authorizing the aggregate bonus amounts for all employees. Boutros has said his bonuses were permitted, and has multiple lawsuits against the hospital in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.
The investigation of the unauthorized bonuses began after payroll data was reviewed in connection with the search for a new CEO, the newly filed court records stated. Boutros had announced he would leave MetroHealth at the end of 2022, and was an active participant in the search process for his successor, Airica Steed.
MetroHealth, in the court filing, also refuted Boutros’ statements that parts of the CEO search process violated the state’s Open Meetings Act, and that he was fired in retaliation for whistleblowing.
“It is only now, after the Board terminated Dr. Boutros’ employment for cause for awarding himself over $1.9 million in unauthorized bonuses, that Dr. Boutros attempts to deflect from his own conduct by creating false stories of retaliation,” the court filing said.
The Open Meetings Act is a state law that requires public officials to discuss and take official action only in open meetings unless the subject matter of the meeting is specifically excepted by law. One of the key exceptions is the issue of personnel matters, which allows boards to go into executive session to discuss items away from the public
The health system said that the search was transparent and thorough, and denied that hiring consultants for the CEO search was in violation of the Open Meetings Act.
Boutros’ lawyer, Jason Bristol, said in a statement Monday afternoon that MetroHealth is taking a very cavalier approach to the state’s Sunshine Laws.
“They’re intent on peddling the same false narrative they’ve consistently used to malign Dr. Boutros and to deflect attention from the Board’s own negligent and malicious conduct. We look forward to the discovery process, and to shining a light on what actually happened to Dr. Boutros,” Bristol said.
Read ongoing coverage of the Dr. Akram Boutros investigation at MetroHealth bonuses at this link.
Julie Washington covers healthcare for cleveland.com. Read previous stories at this link. Also:
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