HCA agrees to pay nearly $1.4 million, end unfair training repayment policies under settlement with Attorney General Phil Weiser

July 24, 2024 (DENVER) — Attorney General Phil Weiser announced today that he has reached a settlement with hospital provider HCA over allegations the company violated Colorado consumer protection laws when it withheld information about training repayment agreement provisions, also called TRAPs, from prospective nurses. The attorneys general of California and Nevada also joined the settlement.

Under the settlement terms, HCA will pay nearly $1.4 million, more than $400,000 of which will go toward restitution for Colorado nurses harmed by the company. Those eligible for restitution will receive it directly from HCA and do not need to take any further action. In addition to the financial component, the settlement requires HCA to stop using TRAPs, stop collecting against existing TRAP debt, make void all existing TRAPs, and notify affected employees.

TRAPs are arrangements made between employees and employers that provide training with the understanding that the employee will be responsible for repaying some or all training costs if they do not remain with the employer for a specified period. TRAPs have recently come under scrutiny from state and federal officials. In 2022, at the urging of Attorney General Weiser, Colorado passed HB22-1317 (opens new tab) , which gives the attorney general authority to enforce against illegal TRAPs. In 2024, the legislature gave the attorney general additional rulemaking and penalty authority over TRAPs under HB24-1324 (opens new tab).

“Prospective employees who are offered this type of training repayment arrangement deserve to know the full story before they get too far down the road of accepting an employment opportunity and such training arrangements should not unfairly treat workers,” Weiser said. “In this case, HCA deceived nurses and mistreated them, failing to provide enough information about how much an employee might owe, how long they would have to remain employed, and any potential late fees or charges.”

An investigation by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office into HCA’s TRAP practices revealed that, since 2018, the company entered into TRAPs with approximately 1,700 registered nurses in Colorado. Those agreements could not typically be negotiated or modified during the hiring process and nurses were frequently unaware of the TRAPs until after they accepted employment.

Until 2022, typical terms for these arrangements required nurses who did not work for HCA for a full two years to pay back up to $10,000, prorated depending on the actual length of employment. The agreements also allowed interest up to 3% per year and a “late charge” of up to 10% of the monthly payment due. Many agreements also said employees might have some or all their final paycheck withheld.

When recruiting prospective nurses, HCA did not consistently include details of TRAPs in their marketing materials, and, when a “work commitment” was in fact referenced, did not consistently explain that the commitment involved repaying thousands of dollars if they did not remain employed with HCA for two years.

In some instances, nurses were even extended and accepted job offers without ever knowing the full details of the TRAP’s costs or time commitment. In other cases, HCA extended job offers with deadlines that limited the ability of nurses to ask questions about TRAPs.

Read the settlement filed today in Denver District Court (PDF).

Read more about the allegations revealed by the attorney general’s office’s investigation (PDF).

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