What’s at stake?

The Fresno City Attorney will investigate whether a recent mass layoff violated worker protection laws. 

The Fresno City Attorney’s Office plans to open an investigation against Soul Housing on possible wage theft and WARN Act violations, following the care facility operator’s decision to abruptly close their recuperative care facility earlier this month.

The sudden closure left dozens of workers without jobs and forced a local shelter operator to scramble together a takeover so that the roughly 150 patients could remain housed.

Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz confirmed the investigation in a text message to Fresnoland on Thursday.

Janz declined to elaborate on specific details, citing a need to protect a new investigation.

The city’s probe comes a day after a Fresnoland report raised questions about whether Soul Housing, the Los Angeles-based facility operator, may have violated the WARN Act when it abruptly laid off workers and announced the closure of its recuperative care operation on Blackstone Avenue. The facility serves as a temporary shelter for people who are homeless and have been recently discharged from a hospital.

Soul Housing and Ceryx Management — the company that supplied the former with employees and sent the mass layoff notice earlier this month — did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this story. Casey Reinholtz, CEO of Soul Housing, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the story on Thursday.

RH Community Builders, a Fresno-based shelter operator, swiftly came in and took over management of the facility — saving the some-150 residents from the possibility of homelessness. 

Along with the closure of the Blackstone facility came layoff notices to all of Fresno’s Soul Housing employees, and 90% of their staff overall. However, it remains unclear how many employees Soul Housing staffed and what the exact number of staff it laid off is. 

Soul Housing’s layoff came following the termination of their service contract with state insurance provider Health Net, effectively ending the facility operator from getting reimbursed for the services they provided residents. The operator shut down services in Fresno and LA. 

City Attorney Andrew Janz. Credit: Julianna Morano | Fresnoland

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