After roughly a month without pay, nurses at the Leon County Detention Facility might finally be seeing some relief.
YesCare, the correctional healthcare company that formerly contracted with the local jail, announced last week that it would be ceasing operations at all institutions across the country after filing for bankruptcy. As the company went under, roughly 60 Leon County employees were left without any means to pay bills or buy groceries while still showing up for work.
But as of last week, the Leon County jail ushered in a new company — CFG Health — that has onboarded the “great majority” of YesCare’s staff, and the nurses’ former employer is expected to roll out the first of many back paychecks this week.
“Our team worked diligently as soon as we got word of YesCare filing (for bankruptcy),” Leon County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Shonda Knight told the Democrat. “The new service provider is already onsite as of last Thursday.”
Knight said LCSO was in contact with the nursing staff throughout the entirety of the process and had a contingency plan in place in the event that people stopped showing up for work. But the staff said “they were committed to try to work through this process” with the sheriff’s office as a new vendor was secured.
“There was no interruption of services whatsoever,” Knight said.
According to Bloomberg Law report, one of the major reasons the company was forced to file bankruptcy was a $307 million jury verdict in Michigan over substandard medical care earlier this year.
The verdict caused many correctional facilities to terminate their contracts with YesCare, sparking a huge decrease in revenues that led them to miss payroll for its 1,500 employees, as reported by Reuters.
LCSO hosted a lunch May 26 for the YesCare nurses as a thank you for continuing to show up, even when they weren’t being compensated for their work.
In a May 15 letter to employees, YesCare’s Chief Restructuring Officer David Goldwasser also praised them for their dedication to their work.
“To the providers, nurses, medical staff and operations teams who have continued to show up for patients this week — I see you,” Goldwasser wrote. “The customers we serve see you. Our clinical work has not stopped and that is because of you, doing your job under conditions no one should have to work under.”
His letter also explained where the company was at in the bankruptcy process and what that meant for their hope of being paid.
“I’m sorry you’re going through this,” he wrote. “I won’t insult you by saying anything more than that.”
Elena Barrera can be reached at ebarrera@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X: @elenabarreraaa.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Leon County jail nurses might finally see paycheck this week
Reporting by Elena Barrera, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
