WILLIAMSPORT — A federal judge has been asked to give preliminary approval to two settlements totaling $28.5 million to resolve a lawsuit over an alleged secret agreement between two central Pennsylvania healthcare providers not to poach each other’s employees.
If approved by U.S. Middle District Judge Matthew W. Brann, approximately 12,000 healthcare workers would share in $19 million to be paid by Geisinger and $9.5 million to be paid by the former Evangelical Community Hospital near Lewisburg.
Evangelical was an independent hospital at the time. It became part of York-based WellSpan Health in July 2024.
The settlements would cover those employed by the two healthcare systems in Union, Snyder, Northumberland, Montour, Lycoming, and Columbia counties from Jan. 1, 2014, through Aug. 5, 2020.
Each employee is guaranteed a minimum payment of $250, with the average amount estimated at $1,500, a court document filed Friday states.
Attorney fees not to exceed $3.5 million will be sought from the settlement fund. Taxes would be deducted from the payments to employees.
Nichole Leib and Kevin Brokenshire, who were registered nurses then and the lead plaintiffs, would receive $10,000 each for their work in what was described as 4½ years of hard-fought, expensive litigation.
Board members and administrative personnel of the two healthcare organizations are not eligible for any payment, the agreements state.
The parties agree that the settlements provide “for substantial, timely compensation” to those harmed by the alleged no-poach agreement.
Neither Geisinger nor Evangelical concedes any liability in reaching the settlements. They had denied the secret agreement allegations.
The antitrust suit claimed wages were artificially suppressed by Geisinger and Evangelical, and alleged that they secretly agreed to restrict the solicitation of the others’ employees.
Brann still will have to certify the litigation as a class action and approve the settlement notice to be sent to members that would give the option not to participate.
A court hearing would be held before the judge could give final approval.
He has also been asked to order Geisinger to provide Social Security numbers for its employees, as Evangelical has already done.
If Geisinger refuses, individual employees would be required to file a tax form with the Internal Revenue Service as a condition of payment.
The suit, in which Diane Weigley, a nurse, and Jessica Sauer, a patient access representative, were also plaintiffs, claimed the alleged secret “no-poach” agreement reduced job mobility and enabled the two health systems to pay employees less.
The agreement stopped only when the federal government in 2020 filed an antitrust suit to prevent Geisinger from becoming a 30 percent owner of Evangelical, the plaintiffs contended.
That litigation was settled by an agreement that capped Geisinger’s stake in the Lewisburg-area hospital at 7.5 percent.
Geisinger became a member of Risant Health on March 31, 2024, but continues to operate under its own name.
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