Suit filed by former ShorePoint Health Venice employees over layoffs modified
VENICE – Employees of the now defunct ShorePoint Health Venice Hospital have modified a lawsuit alleging that their layoffs last summer were mishandled because they didn't follow federal law requiring public notice of plans to close and eliminate their jobs.
The workers originally sued the Venice hospital's parent company, Franklin Tennessee-based Community Health Systems Inc., but Community Health was replaced as the defendant by Venice HMA Holdings Inc., LLC, a subsidiary of CHS Inc, on Oct. 31.
Callie White, an employee in the radiology department of ShorePoint Health Venice, filed suit Aug. 29 in the U.S. Middle District Court in Tampa on behalf of herself and as many as 600 other employees, alleging that the hospital violated the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act – otherwise known as the WARN Act.
Under the law, employers with more than 100 full time 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.
Related: Lawsuit alleges speedy closing of ShorePoint Health Venice violated federal laws on proper notice
The suit asks 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.
On Oct. 10, the hospital filed a motion to dismiss, for, among other reasons, failure to establish that she and other employees had been terminated.
Instead, the complaint "alleges only that her termination, and the termination of other employees, may occur on some future date if certain conditions arise,” wrote Tracey K. Jaensch, an attorney with the Tampa-based firm of FordHarrison LLP, which is representing the hospital. “Plaintiff’s complaint is not ripe and is due to be dismissed.”
The hospital contends that while the facility ceased performing elective and outpatient procedures as of Aug. 26, White herself remained on the hospital’s group health and welfare benefits program.
That Oct. 10 motion kicked off a flurry of filings, including one by White’s counsel, Brandon J. Hill of Tampa-based Wenel Fenton Cabassa, P.A., asking for an extension time to respond to the motion to dismiss or file an amended complaint.
That extension deadline was through Nov. 11 but as of Nov. 14, the response had not been filed.
ShorePoint Health Venice – 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.
Hospital officials cited the opening of the new Sarasota Memorial Hospital Venice campus as a reason for decreased patient volume that prompted the decision to close.
In 2014, CHS bought the Venice facility and the former Bon Secours St. Joseph’s Hospital in Charlotte county as part of an acquisition of two dozen hospitals from Naples-based Health Management Associates for $7.6 billion.
CHS still owns two other ShorePoint branded hospitals in Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda.
In a third quarter update email to investors, CHS President and Chief Financial Officer Kevin Hammons said the company’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA was $400 million, including $115 million in pandemic relief funds. Net cash provided by operating activities from July through September 2022 was $137 million, compared to $121 million during the same quarter in 2021.
The email referenced the closure of ShorePoint Venice but not by name.
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: Employees seeking compensation over Venice hospital closing modify lawsuit
