NEW CASTLE, PA. Suit: Hospital owes money to ex-workers

Jameson Health System contends it should not be part of the lawsuit.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Former employees of St. Francis Hospital say they are owed money for paid time off, sick, severance and vacation pay.
A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court names John R. McGinley -- the man appointed by the courts to disburse St. Francis Health Systems assets to creditors -- and Jameson Health System and Jameson Hospital as defendants.
St. Francis Hospital in New Castle closed last October when the facility was sold to Jameson Health System. The sale was part of an asset liquidation of the financially strapped St. Francis Health System that included four hospitals in western Pennsylvania.
Atty. Dan Herman of New Castle said his 91 clients are entitled to money from accumulated sick, vacation and paid time off as well as severance pay of more than $1.3 million. The total lawsuit is for more than $3 million and includes payment for attorney's fees, penalties and interest, Herman said.
Herman said the lawsuit is intended to give his clients standing in the line of creditors seeking money from the former St. Francis Health System.
"This is the classic David vs. Goliath. You have people that made a hospital run," he said. "These people gave a commitment and their life's work and in return the hospital turned its back on these people as if they don't exist."
What was offered
A severance package of a couple weeks' pay and three months of health benefits was offered to St. Francis Hospital's terminated employees, but none of his clients accepted. The severance package was nowhere near the amount owed for their accumulated time off, sick and severance pay that ranges anywhere from $791 to $53,000, he said.
"They worked instead of taking vacation so they could accumulate benefits. They spent many, many years doing this and the employee manual said they could get credit for this. They were all terminated and nothing was said," he said.
Herman contends the employees were not properly notified under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act -- a law that requires large employers to give workers 60 days' notice of any mass layoff.
Jameson Health System and Jameson Hospital are named in the lawsuit because they bought St. Francis Hospital in New Castle and are the natural successor under the law, Herman said.
"Under the Warn Act, we have remedies against them because they acquired the entity," Herman said.
Jameson spokeswoman Linda Cody said Monday that the health system has not been served with any papers concerning the lawsuit. She said its attorneys do not consider the health system a successor under the Warn Act provisions.
"It's our understanding we are not a successor. We purchased their assets, we did not assume their debt," she said.
cioffi@vindy.com