Epps & Coulson Filed Class Action to Protect Kaiser Nurses and Staff
Epps & Coulson Filed Class Action to Protect Kaiser Nurses and Staff
Epps & Coulson, LLP filed a class action complaint against Kaiser. The claims arise from conduct so shocking and invasive that it strikes at the core of personal dignity in the workplace: the secret video recording of employees inside a hospital bathroom.
Plaintiffs—healthcare workers entrusted with caring for others—were themselves betrayed when a concealed recording device was discovered in a staff-only restroom where complete privacy was expected. In November, Kaiser learned that an employee had used a concealed camera to secretly videotape, film, photograph, and record victims in states of undress, while inside the employees’ locker room bathroom of the emergency department at the West Los Angeles Medical Center. The camera was concealed behind the toilet, facing out from the back wall behind the toilet.
Below is a photo of the device:
Below is a photo of the bathroom in which the device was discovered:
For months (if not longer), employees unknowingly used this workplace bathroom to attend to the most private human functions, only to later learn that they had been watched, recorded and egregiously violated. The discovery sent shockwaves through the workforce, leaving employees fearful, humiliated, and traumatized.
The case is not about a fleeting lapse or isolated embarrassment. It is about a systemic failure by one of the nation’s largest healthcare employers, Kaiser, to safeguard its employees from one of the most extreme invasions of privacy imaginable—and to prevent a work environment that became hostile and degrading.
Epps & Coulson filed the class action to hold Kaiser accountable and to vindicate fundamental privacy and civil rights protected under California law.
It was in November 2025, that an employee at Kaiser Permanente’s West Los Angeles Medical Center discovered in the staff-only bathroom for emergency room personnel a hidden spy camera concealed behind and above the flush handle of the toilet. The staff expected privacy when using the bathroom. They did not know that someone was recording them. But, someone was.
It is despicable conduct.
When the Kaiser staff member found the hidden camera, security at Kaiser was informed and notified the police. A Kaiser employee was arrested and last week was charged with 215 counts that included Disorderly Conduct with Concealed Camcorder and Destroying Evidence.[1] Neither Kaiser nor the LAPD told employees if any images of them were distributed or put up on the web. KP did terminate the employee.
But, this is not the first incident at a Kaiser facility. Other published peeping incidents at Kaiser facilities include:
•2010 – A former night-shift nurse in Redwood City was caught secretly filming co-workers using the toilet in a hospital bathroom using a micro digital camera.
•2017 – A Portland pharmacist was indicted on 71 charges, accused of hiding a camera in an employee bathroom.
•2020 – An employee filmed a woman while undressing at the Downey facility.
•2022 – A physical therapist at the Richmond location surreptitiously recorded a patient undressing.
•2023 – A homeless man was hiding in women’s restroom in Riverside making recordings of women.
•2025 – An incident from a KP Vallejo medical center also involved hidden cameras, this time in a public bathroom in the maternal and child health unit.
Now, it happened again. Kaiser failed to protect its employees from unlawful surveillance in one of the most private places, the workplace bathroom.
These emergency room Kaiser staff members perform life-saving feats every day, but Kaiser did not protect them and they now are the victims. Kaiser failed to make changes to effectively ensure their employees are protected from spying hidden cameras. These types of invasions of privacy can result in employee distraction, long-term psychological harm, reduced job performance, and ongoing problems of employees being intimidated, fearful, or less willing to perform their duties comfortably or confidently because of the invasive misconduct. Worse, if any illicit recordings were published, victims often remain fearful that illicit recordings could persist indefinitely.
Kaiser, indeed, all employers have a legal and ethical duty to provide safe, private restrooms free from intrusion. Epps & Coulson, LLP intends to ensure that Kaiser makes lasting changes in order to protect their employees and others from predatory peepers.
Epps & Coulson’s website has a Kaiser button at the top of its web page for employees and staff to ask us to evaluate whether they could be class members of the lawsuit: Kaiser Class Action – Epps & Coulson, LLP.
Please also feel free to contact Gabriel at gcourey@eppscoulson.com, Dawn at dawn@eppscoulson.com or Jose at jcervantes@eppscoulson.com if you have any questions.
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Information contained in this Memo is intended for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or opinion, nor is it a substitute for the professional judgment of an attorney. It is likely considered advertising. Epps & Coulson, LLP encourages you to call to discuss these matters as they apply to you or your business. Epps & Coulson, LLP attorneys and affiliated counsel admitted to practice in California, Texas, Colorado, Oregon, New York, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Hawaii, European Union, England and Wales, France (Paris Bar), Sweden, and the US Patent & Trademark Office.
[1] Case No. 26CJCM00422-01, available at: Superior Court of Los Angeles County | Access a Case