An Erie nurse has filed a class-action lawsuit accusing healthcare giant UPMC of exploiting its market dominance by “artificially depressing” wages and saddling employees with heavy workloads.
These issues are only worsening as the system continues to expand its footprint in Pennsylvania, the antitrust complaint alleges, as patients and health care workers have fewer alternatives and UPMC faces less competition.
The federal lawsuit was brought forward in January by Victoria Ross, a nurse who has worked at UPMC Hamot in Erie. However, the class action is seeking redress for skilled healthcare workers employed by UPMC since early 1996.
Based in Pittsburgh, UPMC is Pennsylvania’s largest non-governmental employer and the 18th-largest hospital system in the nation, posting $26 billion in annual revenues, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges the nonprofit has achieved much of its growth through “anticompetitive conduct,” as it acquires or merges with other healthcare providers and, in many cases, forces cuts or closures at these facilities. UPMC has shut down four hospitals between 1996 and 2019 and downsized several others, the lawsuit states, adding that the system has eliminated more than 350 beds and about 1,367 full-time jobs.