Emory Healthcare faces lawsuit after layoffs

A former Emory Healthcare finance department employee filed a class-action lawsuit alleging the Atlanta-based system violated the federal WARN Act by laying off workers without the required 60 days’ notice.

On Aug. 12, Emory laid off some financial services and revenue cycle positions in an “effort to streamline operations and realign our structure with future strategic plans.” An Emory spokesperson told Becker’s Aug. 20 that the layoffs affected 232 people out of the system’s 29,500 overall employees. 

The lawsuit was filed Aug. 15 by Paulette Simmons and she claims that layoffs affected 543 full-time employees. She further alleges that Emory presented terminated employees with severance agreements that required employees to “broadly release statutory claims in exchange for severance pay.” 

“These agreements contained waiver provisions purporting to bar WARN Act claims, even though WARN rights cannot be waived absent compliance with statutory protections,” the lawsuit said. 

The severance offered was less than the WARN-required 60 days of wages and benefits, according to the lawsuit. For many employees, severance was calculated based on tenure and other factors unrelated to WARN’s mandated remedy. 

“Emory’s conduct demonstrates a willful attempt to circumvent WARN Act requirements and deprive employees of their statutory protections,” the lawsuit alleges. 

The Emory spokesperson told Becker’s that due to the limited number of affected employees, the WARN act was not implicated. 

“A mass layoff occurs if the employment losses at a single site of employment represents at least 33% of the total active workforce, excluding any part-time employees,” the spokesperson said. “Neither of these options came into play at Emory Healthcare.”

The spokesperson said the system remains “committed to supporting the individuals who are leaving us with needed resources throughout this career transition.”

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