Hearing On Wages for Former Hospital Workers

A hearing will be held tomorrow morning in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Pittsburgh on whether nearly 200 former workers of the now closed Commonwealth Medical Center should receive back wages. Commonwealth Medical Center, formerly Aliquippa Hospital, filed for bankruptcy December 5 and then closed a week later. The nurses and other caregivers did receive post-bankruptcy wages but not what they were owed prior to the bankruptcy filing. Former employee Johnni Psomas says the workers are owed about 2 weeks back pay and she's hopeful they can convince the Judge Bernard Markovitz to approve the paying of the wages. When it filed a preliminary budget last week, the Medical Center did not include those unpaid wages. The workers and their supporters are holding a vigil this evening outside the closed hospital and then will take buses tomorrow morning to Pittsburgh to attend the bankruptcy hearing.