The owner of the shuttered Fairmont Regional Medical Center agreed to pay matching retirement contributions to former employees, the state Attorney General’s office said.
The 207-bed hospital was closed March 19 by Alecto Healthcare Services after it failed to find a buyer and lost $19 million in three years. Around 600 people worked at the facility when it closed, leaving Marion County without a full-service hospital.
“The hard-working former employees of Fairmont Regional deserve any benefits owed to them,” Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said in a statement announcing the settlement. “Neither these professionals, nor the surrounding community asked for their hospital to close in the midst of a global pandemic.”
The latest settlement — $126,648 in 401k contributions — is separate from $1.08 million in paid time off for former hospital workers. That amount includes $844,342 for employees who are members of the Service Employees International Union District 1199 WV/KY/OH and $240,000 for members of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.
“Today is another victory for the workers of the former Fairmont Regional Medical Center,” said Joyce Gibson, regional director for SEIU District 1199 WV/KY/OH. “By sticking together in their union and working with Gov. Justice and Attorney General Morrisey, workers will be paid matching 401k contributions owed by Alecto Healthcare.”
Earlier this month, Morrisey’s office announced it was investigating Fairmont Regional’s sudden closure and whether it violated the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988, which requires employers with 100 or more workers to provide a 60-day notice of closure or mass layoffs. The 60-day mark for the medical center would have been April 18, almost a month after the hospital closed.
WVU Medicine has said it will develop a 10-bed hospital inside Fairmont Regional and operate it as an arm of J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital. It also announced plans to build a 25-bed, full service hospital on property it owns next to its Urgent Care facility on Stoney Road.
Mon Health, meanwhile, is planning a 10-bed hospital on land it already owns along Interstate 79, near Fresenius Kidney Care in Pleasant Valley.
Both local health systems submitted Certificate of Need applications with the West Virginia Health Authority to get approval for the projects.
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