Pennsylvania AFSCME Members Win Compensation ($600,000)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.afscme.org/blog/pennsylvania-afscme-members-win-compensation

BY PATRICIA BAUER/AFSCME COUNCIL 13 | DECEMBER 23, 2013

Thanks to the work of AFSCME in Pennsylvania, 84 laid-off employees of the shuttered Saint Catherine Medical Center in Fountain Springs received nearly $600,000 in back pay and other compensation following the closure of their facility last year.

The affected workers – members of Local 2482 (AFSCME District Council 89) – were thrown out of work in April 2012 after the medical center closed with less than a week’s notice. At the time many of the employees were still owed up to six weeks of pay for work performed.

Council 13 immediately filed a claim for unpaid wages on behalf of the workers. It also filed claims for unpaid accrued time off, for short-term disability and supplemental life insurance premiums, and for deducted retirement contributions. The council also sought compensation for the employees because management failed to give the workers 60 days’ notice, required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.

In March, employees reunited at the closed facility to hear good news: AFSCME District Council 89 Dir. Michael Fox, also an AFSCME International vice president, and attorneys for Council 13, announced they won their back wages claim. Collectively, the workers received more than $190,000.

FULL story at link.