Former MetroHealth Hospital CEO Dr. Akram Boutros refiled a lawsuit against the hospital board on Tuesday, nearly a year after he voluntarily withdrew it to focus on needed cancer treatment.
Boutros was fired two years ago, after the board learned that Boutros awarded himself $1.9 million in bonuses over several years. His lawsuit contends that he was entitled to the bonuses and that he followed the board’s approved compensation plan for awarding the bonus to himself and employees.
“During Dr. Boutros’s entire tenure, the Board approved incentive pools for all eligible employees at MetroHealth — including Dr. Boutros — but never asked what amounts anyone was receiving under the system’s Performance Plan or why,” the lawsuit says. “Such information was at all times readily available to Board members, on demand, from the ordinary business and payroll records of the System where every penny of Dr. Boutros’s compensation was accurately recorded.”
The board fired Boutros in November 2022, after the board completed its own investigation into the payments. At the time, the board said it believed Boutros was not entitled to the money.
Boutros’ lawsuit claims board members cost him $8 million in lost compensation and severance, $20 million in harm to future job prospects and “additional tens of millions more” in damage to his reputation.
In response to Boutros’ latest lawsuit, a spokesman for the board said: “MetroHealth does not comment on litigation, nor will it engage in negotiations through the news media. We will file our response with the court at the appropriate time.”
But when Boutros filed his first defamation lawsuit, in December 2022, the board issued a statement that accused Boutros of being dishonest.
“Dr. Boutros was terminated because we learned he was paying himself almost $2 million in bonuses that had not been authorized by the MetroHealth Board,” the statement said. “It’s that simple. To claim otherwise is to continue to smear the reputation of the very institution he claims to love and to undermine his successor.”
A special state audit of the MetroHealth System concluded that Boutros’ actions were “not criminal” when he paid himself $1.9 million in secondary bonuses.
The audit, released last Tuesday morning, did not find supporting evidence that the board had given explicit permission for Boutros’ additional bonuses. It said that Boutros did not discuss management of the bonuses program directly with the board but that he did share information with a consultant the board hired. The report also said the board didn’t keep a close enough eye on Boutros’ pay.
MetroHealth said last week in a statement about audit findings that it still believes Boutros intentionally did not disclose the bonuses to the board and cited several sections of the audit that discuss the management bonus program under which he was compensated.