Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Lawyers Blog

In March Pennsylvania began a Shared-Work Program allowing an employer to temporarily reduce the work hours of a group of employees as an alternative to lay-offs.

Employees covered by the plan receive a percentage of the unemployment compensation weekly benefit amount while they work the reduced schedule, if they are otherwise eligible for UC.

The percentage by which each employee’s work hours are reduced is determined by the employer and the reduction percentage must be the same for all employees participating in the shared-work plan.

As we try to remain hopeful about the county’s economic future, it’s hard to ignore when a local hospital like Saint Catherine Medical Center closes its doors. Right on the heels of this news comes the announcement that Gap and Gap Kids in the Schuylkill Mall will close in May.

The RepublicanHerald.com reported that the last day for the Gap stores will be May 26. Gap has been in the mall since 1980. It’s not known how many employees will be affected.

An October 2011 press release from Gap Brand Management seems to explain the closure by saying, “At Gap, the company is committed to rebalancing its specialty and outlet stores within North America, resulting in about 700 Gap specialty stores and about 250 Gap Outlet stores by year-end 2013.”

Continue reading

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett announced recently that Certech Inc., a manufacturer of ceramic cores, will create 80 new jobs and retain 185 positions by consolidating an out-of-state operation into its Hanover Township facility near Wilkes-Barre.

The company will also purchase new equipment and will train new employees at the Luzerne County facility.

Certech Inc. received $346,000 in funding from the state Department of Community and Economic Development including $160,000 in job creation tax credits, $36,000 in job training assistance and a $150,000 Pennsylvania First grant.

Although state and national unemployment rates remain the same, Schuylkill County’s rate decreased 0.5 of a percentage point to 8.5 percent in February, the lowest it has been since January 2009.

According to an article on the RepublicanHerald.com, a seasonal decline was seen in February in industries such as retail trade as seasonal workers were laid off, and leisure and hospitality jobs, as winter activities and holiday traveling ended.

The article also noted that trade, transportation and utility jobs increased, including professional and business services. Mining, logging and construction was up compared to last year.

As the story continues to unfold, employees of Saint Catherine Medical Center are becoming frustrated with the lack of information about the future of the facility, according to an article on the RepublicanHerald.com.

Yesterday the hospital filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11. Today the facility’s owner, Robert M. Lane, held a meeting with employees, but many walked away without much information. After the meeting, representatives from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees were on hand to help Saint Catherine workers fill out paperwork.

In the article, some employees mentioned a number of problems at the facility, including deductions like union dues being taken from employee paychecks but not forwarded to the union, not receiving paychecks on time, and ongoing shortage of supplies at the hospital.

Continue reading

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Tsudis Chocolate Co. for two repeat and 14 serious safety violations at its Pittsburgh candy manufacturing facility.

According to a news release, OSHA opened an inspection after a worker sustained head injuries while setting up operations on a machine that started up inadvertently.

The news release stated the injury was caused when a machine was not locked to prevent accidental start up.

On March 28, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a request for information seeking comments on how to prevent injuries and deaths from reinforcing concrete activities in construction and from vehicles and mobile equipment backing into workers in construction, general industry, agriculture and the maritime industry. According to workerscompensation.com, OSHA will use the comments received to learn more about how workers get injured and what solutions exist to prevent such injuries and deaths, including possible regulatory action.

Workers using reinforcing methods to strengthen concrete face potential life-threatening hazards including impalement, collapsed walls, and slips and falls.

According to OSHA more than 30 workers died from these activities from 2000 to 2009.

According to an article on InsuranceNewsNet.com, the borough of Nazareth, PA will need to look for a new insurance company for their workers’ comp policy. This is due to excessive claims totaling nearly $1.1 million from 2009 to 2012.

The article said that Nazareth Mayor Fred Daugherty explained that 98% of the workers’ comp claims during that period were from police department personnel.

“Travelers was the only company that would provide us a workers’ compensation policy. Our only option now is to go to the state fund, and we can’t even get a figure on that yet,” said Mayor Daugherty. However, he did not go into detail regarding what has caused the rise in claims.

We were saddened to read the news in last week’s Republican Herald about potential financial problems at St. Catherine’s Medical Center in Fountain Springs. A series of mandatory meetings with employees were held by the administration at the end of last week. In the article, Merlyn E. Knapp, president/CEO of St. Catherine’s, is quoted as saying, “The message to our employees this morning was stay calm, work with us and give us some time to resolve these difficult issues.”

The article reported that several workers who were leaving the meetings complained that some employees were getting their paychecks late. They were told that “some people didn’t get paid because their (hospital) bank account was frozen.” Although the last payday was Fri., March 16, many employees did not receive their checks until Monday and Wednesday of last week.

The employees also told the paper that they sometimes find themselves short on supplies. One employee is quoted as saying, “In general, it’s in every department where they’re short of items.”

Despite these issues, Knapp is quoted in the article as saying that there are no layoffs “at this time.”

Continue reading