Photo by Niamh Coomey A sign at the now-closed East Ohio Regional Hospital directs patients to various departments.

MARTINS FERRY — East Ohio Regional Hospital is largely denying the allegations made in a class action lawsuit against the now-closed hospital, which over 200 former employees have already joined.

EORH closed March 20 without notice to employees after shuttering several of its facilities, leaving over 400 people without work and many with missed paychecks and benefits.

Moundsville law firm Gold, Khourey and Turak partnered with Columbus firm Barkan Meizlish DeRose Cox to represent the large client base in the class action suit. The complaint alleges that the hospital failed to give employees the federally required 60-day Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, notice before closing, among other violations.

On the evening of the deadline to respond to the initial complaints, the hospital’s legal representation, Columbus-based lawyer Priscilla Hapner, reached out to the partnering firms with three separate responses — one from EORH owner Dr. John Johnson, one from Access Ohio LLC and one from East Ohio Hospital LLC.

Up until Monday evening, the firms had not received any communication from the hospital or its legal representation.

All three responses deny the allegations in the first amended complaint, which include the lack of WARN notice and not paying employees their owed wages, among other claims, of which there are hundreds.

Johnson, a psychiatrist who has owned and operated other medical facilities, purchased EORH in spring 2020 and reopened it in February 2021, after a previous closure in 2019 under Alecto Healthcare Services. Alecto at the same time closed its Wheeling-based sister facility, Ohio Valley Medical Center, which has since been demolished.

Employees of EORH have noted Johnson’s absence as the closure of the hospital grew close, as well as a general lack of transparency and communication from the hospital’s administration.

Representatives from Gold, Khourey and Turak and Barkan Meizlish DeRose Cox met with employees in two town hall-style meetings on May 1 to get to know the former employees and hear additional concerns.

Following the meetings, at which co-counsel Michelle Marinacci said there was “outrage” among former employees struggling to make ends meet, the firms added claims to the complaint from several employees who had lunch hours when they were forced to work deducted from their pay.

The amended complaint also includes claims that the hospital was taking premiums from paychecks but not funding employee health insurance with them.

The parties have their first court date set over Zoom for a preliminary pretrial conference on June 12 with Magistrate Judge Elizabeth A. Preston in Columbus.

As the lawsuit continues to unfold, more employees may continue to sign on at any point.

Co-counsel Bob DeRose and Marinacci both emphasized last week that it is significant to have 200 clients signed on at this point in the case.