When Green Valley’s only hospital closed on June 30, it had approximately 300 health care providers and other workers (about 200). The company’s former CEO, Stephen Harris, said in a previous interview that employees will receive wages and health benefits. Employees were told they would be compensated for up to 80 hours of unused paid leave.

This formal 60-day notice is administered by the U.S. Department of Labor, Labor Adjustment and Reeducation Notification Act.

However, on July 21, the employee will be “not entitled to receive any further compensation, money, or other benefits from SCVRH, including coverage of any benefit plan or program sponsored by SCVRH.” I received a notice of dismissal. They are explained below. ”

The letter details that final salaries deposited before July 29 will include the full amount.

However, some employees said that was not what happened. Instead, only partial salaries were included, and employees on paid leave that were used to round off hours were removed from salaries. Their insurance is no longer valid, but they were still doing insurance withdrawals.

Registered nurse Stephanie Garrett said of her co-workers, “It’s really heartbreaking to have a former co-worker who either doesn’t have the money to buy groceries or has to decide between rent and food now.”

“I was supposed to receive 80 hours of wages, but I was only paid for 24 hours. decided not to pay for it either.”

Employees may be able to file claims in federal court alleging violations of the WARN Act, said Roscoe J. Mutz, a partner at Tucson’s. Farhang and Medkov.

Mutz does not represent Green Valley employees, but is familiar with the WARN Act guidelines. In an interview on Thursday, he said, “It looks like we can have a strong argument about unpaid wages and benefits.”

Arizona law does not generally mandate compensation for vacations incurred during layoffs, but if an employee is promised compensation as part of a WARN contract or existing company policy, Mr. Mutz said that it could also be compensated.

For now, it’s hard to wait as many are trying to figure out what’s coming next and how they’ll get by without the money or benefits they were hoping for. Some did, but their claims have been dismissed because they are still listed as active employees.

Ultrasound technician Rochelle Bryant decided that Southern Arizona was the right place to settle down when she moved here from California for a new job eight months ago. She was putting her home in California up for sale when the layoffs occurred.

“I don’t know where to start, I don’t know what to do,” she said of herself and a former colleague. “Some say, ‘Forget it. They’re talking about filing for bankruptcy now, so we’re not even going to get paid. ”

Originally called Green Valley Hospital, the hospital was built in 2015 for about $77 million. The owner, he filed for bankruptcy in 2017, and the hospital was renamed after being bought by a California-based company for $26 million. Lateral investment management.

The reopening of Santa Cruz Valley Regional Hospital has come with many challenges and changes.

A group of doctors called Global Hospitalist Solutions sued the hospital in 2019, claiming it owed more than $1.9 million. The lawsuit was settled by the end of the year, and the terms were kept confidential.

2021 Company Visits in Rochester, NY Broadstone Net Lease Co., Ltd. purchased the hospital for $60 million and Lateral Investment remained the operator. Harris declined a request for an interview for this story, but responded to some questions via email, saying the proceeds from the Broadstone sale were used to “pay off real estate loans and cover hospital losses.” rice field.

Details of the company’s growth and losses were not available at the time of publication.Lateral Investment’s Richard De Silva and Jeremiah Foster resolute commercial service — who was hired as chief restructuring officer — did not respond to requests for an interview.

Since the pandemic began, the hospital has received public funding, including $5.9 million in funding from the Federal Payroll Protection Program, $5.4 million from state COVID-19 Crisis Emergency Response and Safety Net Funds, and $6.4 million in advanced health insurance payments. public funds are pouring in.

In a previous interview, Harris said Medicare funds were needed to sustain him during the pandemic, but then became an unmanageable debt to pay off $400,000 a month. He said it would drop to $50,000 a month.

For a while, it appeared Tucson-based TMC HealthCare was looking to buy the facility, but the plan fell through in June for undisclosed reasons.

Hosanna Hembree has been in nursing for 27 years and started working at the hospital when it opened in 2015. After she was laid off, Hembree said she could work four to five hours a day to prepare the hospital for closure, but she said that after that she would be working full time. I was told to work one day. .

Instead, she said their last check only included payment for the hours they worked.

She believes the closure was entirely due to mismanagement.

“The COVID money hospitals received should have gone back to equipment and funds and staff,” she said, “but we didn’t see that money.”

Michael Culver had a maintenance job at the hospital for several months, but was out of town when the layoffs hit. He called and was relieved to hear that he still had work to do.It didn’t last a full day.

“I was promised to stay there until October and keep everything running, but apparently that’s changed.” ”

Culver said he moved here for work and intended to work at the hospital until he retired.

“To be honest, the government needs to look into the whole thing,” he said.