Hospital Workers Hold Pay Protest

Tiara Leon, a respiratory therapist at Pacifica Hospital of the Valley, was excited when she was handed her paycheck in early December.

“I was rubbing my hands together, licking my lips,” said Leon, who had not taken any vacation or sick days in the 12 months before her Dec. 2 anniversary date and was expecting to be paid for them in a lump sum, which is hospital policy.

“I was planning on getting about $4,000 clear,” she said. “I was planning on paying off my property taxes and on having a real special Christmas.”

Instead, Leon’s check was for her regular pay only.

Tuesday afternoon, Leon and about 50 therapists, nurses, medical technicians and other workers rallied in front of the Sun Valley hospital to protest being denied vacation and sick-leave pay accrued since Pacifica filed for bankruptcy in November.

Earlier that month, the hospital’s parent company, Arizona-based Doctors Community Healthcare Corp., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Pacifica soon followed suit, although the facility remains in full operation.

Under Pacifica’s policy, if an employee does not use allotted vacation or sick leave in a year’s time, the company pays for the accrued days in the check after the worker’s anniversary date. Hospital officials said the Bankruptcy Court froze funds earmarked to pay for unused vacation and sick days, as well as for other expenditures, for staff and administrators. “I’m going to be out two months worth of pay myself,” said hospital Chief Executive Officer Casey Fatch. “It’s not a simple matter. We are trying to petition the court to let us pay all our workers for money coming to them. I hope we are successful and think we will have this settled in maybe a month.”

Fatch’s comments did not please the workers marching and chanting slogans Tuesday in front of the hospital.

“He doesn’t have as much to lose as the front-line workers,” said Blanca Gallegos, spokeswoman for Service Employees International Union Local 399, which represents more than 400 hospital employees. “We are hoping the hospital will come to some resolution. They have been dragging this out since November.”

Not all the marchers have been affected yet. Those who haven’t were protesting in support of their colleagues.

“I am thinking about my co-workers, who are like a second family,” said registered nurse Audrey Abrera, who has been at Pacifica 22 years. “We don’t feel the administration is doing enough to take care of this. But we are still taking good care of the patients, and we are taking care of each other.”