A lawsuit filed Tuesday in Philadelphia accused Jefferson Health of violating federal labor rules when it laid off 1% of its 65,000 employees in October and this month without providing a 60-day notice.

The purported class action lawsuit says the proposed lead plaintiff, Ciara Brice, lost her job as a medical assistant on Nov. 12 with no notice and has not received the severance pay she was promised.

Brice was not available for comment, said her lawyer, Jeremy E. Abay, with Philadelphia law firm Pond Lehocky Giordano Inc.

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act has a complicated rubric for determining when a mass layoff requires advance notification, which is filed with state labor departments. One of the triggers is an employer cutting at least 500 jobs, according Abay.

Even though the layoffs happened throughout Jefferson’s entire footprint from South Jersey to near Scranton, Abay said notice is required because Jefferson operates as a single entity.

“We believe the facts will show that there was no violation of the federal WARN Act,” Jefferson said in a statement.

The nonprofit filed a notice of 108 layoffs at Jefferson Cherry Hill Hospital, Jefferson Stratford Hospital, and Jefferson Washington Township Hospital because New Jersey has its own rules, Abay said.

In August, Jefferson reported a $195 million operating loss on $15.8 billion in revenue for the year that ended June 30.

The nonprofit, which grew through acquisitions from three hospitals in Philadelphia in 2015 to more than 30 now, provided no details when it announced the layoffs in mid-October.

That layoff was part of a series of large job cuts starting in the summer of 2023, but may have been the first time patient-facing workers like Brice were hit.

The lawsuit seeks back pay, benefits, and damages for each laid-off employee who did not receive a 60-day notice.

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