Questions and Concerns at Pacific Hospital - Part 3

         In my previous blog regarding this subject, I mentioned that I wish I had the facts (Questions and Concerns at Pacific Hospital - Part 2). Well we received some information on Thursday, August 29th about what was going to happen to the hospital and our jobs. It was finally confirmed that Pacific Hospital of Long Beach was sold to College Health Enterprises who owns College Hospital. They will be in partnership with Molina Healthcare who will be managing the medical units while College Health will be doing the same with the psych units. I believe Pacific Hospital had a similar arrangement with Molina a few years back. As far as our jobs are concerned, all employees will be terminated and the expected layoff date is October 29th. We will be asked to reapply with College Health Enterprises effective September 9th when they take over. As required by law, we were given a notice informing us of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, which we had to sign. A memo from the current owner of Pacific Hospital mentioned that employees rehired by College/Molina will continue benefits and retain any accrued PTO (vacation time). At least the part about the PTO is a relief. In case of a layoff, there is no mention of severance pay.
          With all that information, more questions and concerns arise but basically similar to what I wrote in Part 2. There is no guarantee of being rehired but at least it gives as a couple of months of leeway to find another job. Believe me, I've already started looking but what I've seen so far as being offered in area hospitals are per diem (no benefits) positions. Questions include - will the shifts go back to 8 hours or continue with 12 hours; if rehired and basically starting from scratch, will the pay scale be lower; since Memorial Counseling Associates will no longer be managing the psych unit, will there be a change in doctors; will it be better to gamble and resign so I can cash in my PTO then reapply with the new company, or wait to be laid off? Being laid off, though not good, is better than resigning because at least you can collect unemployment insurance, which is not much, but better than nothing. If rehired by the new company though, at least medical and dental insurance benefits will continue even if there is a decrease in pay. What about our 401k retirement plan? Will it roll over to College Hospital's investment company, or will it be up to us to keep it in the same place or transfer it to our own investment company? In an ideal world, if some of us get laid off, it would have been nice to get some severance pay in addition to the PTO being cashed out. Or if rehired, it would be good if they just pay off the Pacific Hospital PTO and start from zero with whatever vacation benefits that College Health has. I can dream, can't I?

Disclosure: I worked at College Hospital Cerritos twice - once in 1981(when their area code was still 213) which was my first ever psychiatric hospital job, a few months after moving to the United States, and the second time in the mid-90's. I have also experienced a couple of lay offs. The first with Los Altos Hospital and the second with Lakewood Regional Medical Center, both which gave employees several weeks worth of severance pay. And finally, Barry Weiss, who is the owner of College Health Enterprises is the brother of my colonoscopy doctor - Steven Weiss.

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Questions and Concerns at Pacific Hospital - Part 2

          After writing about my questions and concerns a few months ago (Questions and Concerns at Pacific Hospital) following the FBI and IRS raid at my place of work, it has been quiet until recently. The employees have always known that the hospital was looking for a buyer as well as a new management company for the psychiatric units, and it may be possible that the buyer might manage those psych units as well.
          Unverified rumors have been abounding in recent days about Pacific Hospital already being sold and that an announcement will be made in early September. As to who the buyer is, rumor has it (pardon me Adele), it is College Hospital, who owns College Hospital in Cerritos and Costa Mesa. That company has done several tours of Pacific Hospital in recent months so they definitely showed an interest. Some employees have mentioned (again unverified) that when Pacific Hospital hands over the operation to College Hospital, the employees will be asked to sign some papers ending their (our) employment with Pacific and start anew with College, essentially from scratch. The speculation includes forfeiting our accrued vacation time or PTO and a possible decrease in hourly salary, plus elimination of shift differential for the night shift. With a little search on the internet regarding California Labor Law, unused vacation time will have to be paid by the employer upon termination of employment, so it's illegal to forfeit it. Doesn't a change of ownership constitute a termination? Getting paid my vacation time is a great concern for me because I have a lot of hours accrued which I had intended to use for emergencies. This is the section of the Labor Law which covers vacation time: http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/faq_vacation.htm which specifically states:

Q.	What happens to my earned and accrued but unused vacation if I am discharged or quit my job?
	A.	Under California law, unless otherwise stipulated by a collective bargaining agreement, whenever the employment relationship ends, for any reason whatsoever, and the employee has not used all of his or her earned and accrued vacation, the employer must pay the employee at his or her final rate of pay for all of his or her earned and accrued and unused vacation days. Labor Code Section 227.3. Because paid vacation benefits are considered wages, such pay must be included in the employee's final paycheck.

          There are a couple of scenarios that have run through my mind. One is to wait for the announcement and just go with the flow and be rehired by the new company with the possible loss of vacation time (if their lawyers found some kind of loophole). The other is to resign as soon as possible so the accrued vacation time can be cashed out before the new company takes over, then after a few weeks, reapply for the same job for lower pay. Of course being rehired is not a sure thing, so that's another concern. Like I mentioned before, there are not too many jobs available in the psychiatric hospital business nowadays. If I quit and cash out my vacation time, I may be able to get by on it for 2 to 3 months, but also have to sign up for COBRA insurance so I continue to be covered by medical insurance, that is, until Obamacare takes over in 2014 (in case I get unemployed for the long term). For now, it's all up in the air because the employees have been kept in the dark and have been left with rumors and speculation. Meanwhile, time is running out. I wish I had the facts.
A couple of days after I posted this entry, the facts were revealed to the employees: Questions and Concerns at Pacific Hospital - Part 3

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