Olive AI is being sued by a state economic development arm over allegations the healthcare tech company missed hiring goals it was supposed to meet in exchange for incentives, Columbus (Ohio) Business First reported.
JobsOhio, a private nonprofit, filed the complaint in an Ohio county court, claiming Olive AI was off its target by 35 jobs and $100,000 in payroll, according to the Aug. 16 story. The organization is asking to be repaid $598,420.
Per a 2020 agreement, JobsOhio pledged to spend as much as $645,000 on recruitment services for Olive AI, such as online advertisements, sponsorship events and a coding boot camp, the news outlet reported. "If companies fail to meet their agreed commitments and we've exhausted all options to help them grow in Ohio, we will claw back our dollars so they can be used for future economic development projects," JobsOhio told Columbus Business First in a statement.
Olive AI, which works with a number of health systems on revenue cycle management and automation, has divested business lines and laid off staffers in recent months, after being valued at $4 billion in 2021.
"We entered into the agreement in April 2020, and as we all experienced, the world changed dramatically with the pandemic. Olive, like many companies, quickly adapted to enable a distributed workforce to continue to serve our customers," a company spokesperson emailed Becker's. "We are aware of the lawsuit, and we expect a quick resolution with JobsOhio."