Lawsuit filed against ShorePoint Health Venice for not providing workers advance notice of closing

A former employee of ShorePoint Health Venice Hospital has filed a lawsuit against the hospital and its parent company, Franklin, Tennessee-based Community Health Systems, Inc. alleging they violated the federal law by not providing the required public notice of its plans to close and lay off workers.

The suit, filed Aug. 29, centers on the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act – otherwise known as the WARN Act.

Previously: Community Health Systems Inc. to close ShorePoint Health Venice hospital on Sept. 22

And: Venice officials to meet with resident group seeking to rescind new land development rules

Under the WARN Act, employers with more than 100 fulltime employees who have more than six months of employment must give 60 days notice before laying off at least 50 people at a single job site.

Callie White, an employee in the radiology department of ShorePoint Health Venice, is suing CHS,, Inc. and Venice HMA LLC in U.S. Middle District Court in Tampa on behalf of herself and as many as 600 other employees.

The hospital is scheduled to shut down Sept. 22, but only informed employees on Aug. 22.

Attorney Brandon J. Hill of Wenzel, Felton, Cabassa – a Tampa-based firm that specializes in employee rights – is also asking that the suit be considered as a class action. He is also asking for a jury trial.

The suit ask for accrued wages, commissions and bonuses, fringe benefits and health care coverage – including payment of medical expenses – for the plaintiffs for the 60-day period, as well as for vacation time, personal days, as well as attorney fees.

The hospital – which had an average of 40 patients per day at the time the closing was announced – has been phasing out in stages. The Emergency Department closed on Aug. 26, and in-patient procedures at the hospital stopped Aug. 29.

According to the suit, White was terminated on Aug. 29.

ShorePoint Health had hosted job fairs for its existing employees at facilities elsewhere in the chain.

ShorePoint Health spokesman Rolando Irizarry, in an Aug. 31 response to a general query about the success of the job fairs, wrote: “Retaining our valued Venice Hospital team members is our top priority during this transition.

“We have been actively working with employees to identify and offer employment opportunities in our affiliated healthcare systems and we will continue to do so.”

He declined comment on the lawsuit in a Sept. 2 email and referenced his previous statement about finding jobs for displaced workers in the company's affiliated system.

Two sister hospitals nearby, ShorePoint Health Punta Gorda and ShorePoint Health Port Charlotte, are scheduled to remain open.

The hospital company is also continuing outpatient services, notably at its ShorePoint Health Park on Jacaranda Boulevard.

Hill asserts that ShorePoint operated a single employer for purposes of the WARN Act and that the mass layoffs deprived workers "and their families (of) some transition time to adjust to the prospective loss of employment, to seek and obtain alternative jobs and, if necessary, to enter skill training or retraining that will allow these workers to successful compete in the job market.”

The suit also speculates that ShorePoint Health and CHS would claim that the layoffs are exempt under a WARN Act provision that allows for an exception under “unforeseeable business circumstances.”

Hospital officials have pointed to changes in health care services available in the region – specifically the opening of the new Sarasota Memorial Hospital Venice campus last November – as a reason for the closure.

Hill asserts that the defendants likely knew near the end of April or sooner that “a mass layoff  was ‘reasonably foreseeable.’”

He declined further comment by email.

According to the suit, ShorePoint Health employed 350 affiliated physicians and 1,200 employees at the hospital, which is at 540 The RIalto, Venice.

Also according to the suit, the hospital committed to keep the plaintiffs “employed” on paper through Nov. 22 though they would no longer be paid or be required to report for work.

That would allow the plaintiffs to keep their health insurance, provided they continued to pay premiums.

Earle Kimel primarily covers south Sarasota County for the Herald-Tribune and can be reached at earle.kimel@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism with a digital subscription to the Herald-Tribune.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: ShorePoint Health Venice faces suit alleging improper closure notice