Brighton Rehab therapists rescind strike notice to continue bargaining

This story was updated at 1:55 p.m. May 4, 2023. SEIU Healthcare announced Thursday that Brighton Rehab therapists rescinded the strike notice.

BRIGHTON TWP. – The union representing therapists at Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center on Thursday said workers rescinded a strike notice to continue bargaining “in the hopes of reaching a fair contract.”

Physical, occupational and speech therapists at the Brighton Township nursing facility, who “remain ready to strike,” will attend a bargaining session with company leadership on May 9. A federal mediator will be present.

“Our hope is that we can come to a fair contract over the next few sessions and avoid a strike,” said Brandy Haldiman, a physical therapy assistant at Brighton Rehab. “We are prepared to issue another strike notice if necessary. We have to do whatever it takes to be able to provide the quality care our residents deserve and retain the staff necessary for long-term continuity of care.”

Employees represented by SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania previously planned to launch a nine-day unfair labor practice strike starting May 6 following months of “delayed, canceled or failed” negotiation sessions with company leadership. On Wednesday, therapists said Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services leaders have failed to bargain in good faith by delaying negotiations for weeks, arriving unprepared to bargaining sessions and failing to attend scheduled negotiations despite 200 other union caregivers at Brighton recently settling a contract.

It’s the first contract negotiation for the therapists. Therapists at Brighton have gone years without a raise and were denied hazard pay during COVID-19, they said Wednesday.

“The therapy staff continually gets high praise and good reviews from residents, but our wages do not reflect that,” said Alysia Franitti, a physical therapy assistant at Brighton. “We overall greatly improve the quality of life of the patients.”

More: Brighton Rehab faces federal health care fraud charges

Franitti said Brighton’s therapy department was previously a contract company. Once that ended in 2021, “almost immediately the facility came down and said non-union employees do not get raises,” she said.

“One of the biggest reasons we decided to join the union is when we were in the heat of the pandemic, we were told that we were not frontline workers,” Franitti said. “We didn't receive referral bonuses if we got therapy staff hired … and we didn't receive hazard pay when the facility’s union workers received hazard pay.”

Therapists found discrepancies in their pay scale, too, they said.

“We’re all licensed and certified, we have the same education based on our job titles,” Franitti said. “We should have wage scales based on experience and licensure. They denied any wage scale. They did offer a raise that is half of what the other union in the building is getting. We’re continuously told that they don't have the autonomy to present a contract besides what they’ve discussed with the owners previously."

Laura Vorrias, an occupational therapy assistant at Brighton, said Wednesday the decision to strike wasn’t made lightly.

“Our residents, a lot of them … we are their home,” Vorrias said.

Steve Gaviglia, an evaluating therapist, said the bargaining unit hopes to negotiate a contract that reduces employee turnover and makes Brighton Rehab a more sustainable place to work.

“I’m treating people when they're at their most vulnerable and at a very difficult time of their lives,” Gaviglia said. “That, to me, is an honor. Part of this is to make this a sustainable place to work. To make it a place workers can stay for multiple years and get to know the people living here and care for them. If they’re not getting pay increases, you can’t stay here long-term. People are forced to move on, and you have this revolving door in the medical field that is really a detriment to people we care for.”

Prior to workers rescinding the notice, Brighton Rehab leadership said in a Wednesday statement the company is “incredibly disappointed” that the union continues to “negotiate in bad faith and engage in unfair labor practices with its plans to strike in an unlawful manner.”

“The laws are clear,” the statement read. “Any union bargaining for its initial contract must provide 30 days’ notice to state and federal mediation services regarding a dispute so that we may use a neutral mediator to help bridge any gaps prior to issuing a 10-day notice of intent to strike … Regardless of these efforts, over the past few months we have continued to make generous wage offers that meet, and in some cases exceed, what their counterparts in other facilities are receiving.”

The company’s offers include “the highest wages the facility has ever offered despite the financial difficulties the industry and our facility continue to face,” leadership said, adding Brighton Rehab has “contingency plans” in place to temporarily replace strikers, if necessary.

“We remain 100% covered with highly qualified, professional staff,” leadership said. “We hope that we can come to a fair and amicable agreement as soon as possible to ensure our teams and our residents continue to receive the exceptional care and support they deserve.”

More: Brighton Rehab ‘reckless’ during virus outbreak, lawsuit claims

Franitti said Comprehensive planned to bring in PRN nurses that “don’t know our residents,” offering “lofty wages and bonuses if they work full days.”

"It’s a large building and we treat on many different floors throughout the day," she said. "It’s going to be hard for staff that don't know the patients to come in and manage our caseload without regular staffing that knows this facility well.”

Brighton Rehab and owner Comprehensive in recent years have been named in state and federal lawsuits related to alleged mishandling of the site’s COVID-19 outbreak. One civil lawsuit claimed the company’s failure to protect staff and residents from COVID-19 exposure led to dozens of preventable deaths.

The company has been the subject of a number of federal investigations. In 2022, former Brighton Rehab owners and managers were charged with health care fraud and conspiracy to defraud the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Brighton Rehab therapists rescind strike notice