Temporary layoffs hit Oakland County hospital amid funding cut

OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. – The Oakland Physicians Medical Center, LLC Pontiac General Hospital “Pontiac General” has announced layoffs of upwards of 248 jobs.

The layoffs will affect the jobs at the 461 block of W. Huron Street in Pontiac.

Pontiac General has provided notice for the benefit of its employees even though it does not believe there is a notice requirement under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act) because the layoffs at the facility are expected to be less than six months in duration.

Pontiac General provided notice as soon as reasonably practicable, as it had just learned that it had been excluded from receiving Medicare funds and did not reasonably foresee this event.

Pontiac General, however, said that the exclusion from receiving Medicare funds is temporary and will last for less than six months, so the layoffs are not expected to be permanent.

Pontiac General does not anticipate that the entire facility will be affected and will not be a complete shutdown.

The anticipated job losses resulting in the sudden loss of funding are expected to occur in phases.

However, the job losses will depend on how quickly their patient load is impacted, and it is impossible to determine all of the employees who will be impacted in the second phase.

AFSCME and UAW-represented employees have bumping rights as provided in the collective bargaining agreement. Non-union employees do not have bumping rights.

The first phase of layoffs will take effect on Nov. 29 and will affect AFSCME Union Represented Positions:

Pontiac General anticipates that the following positions will be laid off in the second phase between Dec. 6 and Dec. 20.