Employees of St. Christopher's Hospital For Children in Philadelphia lost the paid time off they had accrued when the hospital was sold after filing for bankruptcy, according to CBS Philly.
St. Christopher's entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June. About six months later, the hospital was acquired by West Reading, Pa.-based Tower Health and Drexel University.
After the sale was completed, employees of St. Christopher's lost the paid time off they had accrued. To address concerns, the new owners of the hospital said they would provide paid time off to all employees. The nurses' union rejected the offer.
"… Tower Health has provided every employee at St. Christopher's with a year's worth of paid-time-off that they can access immediately," a spokesperson for Tower told CBS Philly. "We made this same offer to the nurses' union negotiating team as part of contract negotiations and it was rejected."
Maria Plano, RN, a nurse at St. Christopher's and vice president of the union that represents about 500 nurses there, explained why they didn't accept the offer.
"They want us to give up a lot of our contract in order to get what they gave everyone else free and clear," she told CBS Philly.
Ms. Plano said the nurses' union is still in talks with Tower and Drexel, and a GoFundMe page has been created for nurses who are preparing to go on maternity leave without paid time off.