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Verity Health: Nurses union files lawsuit tied to hospital closure
By Caroline Salls
Pittsburgh, March 6 – Verity Health Care System of California, Inc. and its affiliated debtors are being sued by the California Nurses Association (CAN) in connection with the closure of its St. Vincent Medical Center, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California.
“Well after they knew it was not true and that closure of St. Vincent Medical Center was imminent, defendants continued to lead the St. Vincent Medical Center registered nurses and their labor representative, CNA, to believe that the hospital’s operations, and therefore the nurses’ continued employment, was secure,” the complaint said.
“By this deception, defendants avoided the risk that when nurses learned the truth, they would seek other employment, thereby forcing defendants to incur additional costs to maintain the nursing staff necessary to keep the hospital going until the defendants were prepared to close it entirely.”
As a result, CNA alleged that Verity failed to give the nurses the disclosures and notices required under the WARN Act.
In addition, CNA alleged that the defendants committed fraud in the form of intentional misrepresentation by concealment, as well as negligent misrepresentation directly harming both CNA and the St. Vincent nurses.
Through the lawsuit, CNA is seeking payment of 60 days of unpaid wages, holiday pay, vacation pay, health and life insurance and other benefits that would have been covered and paid under the then-applicable employee benefit plans had that coverage continued for that period.
CNA is also asking the court to assess civil penalties and order the payment of compensatory, punitive and liquidated damages and damages for mental pain and anguish and emotional distress.
Verity is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit health care system. The company filed bankruptcy on Aug. 31, 2018 under Chapter 11 case number 18-20151.
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