Liberty Home Choices is closing and laying 615 people off from the Philadelphia home aid agency
The layoff notice came nine days after the United Homecare Workers of Pennsylvania filed a federal lawsuit over the way Liberty was conducting the winddown of its operations.
Liberty Home Choices, a nonprofit home aid agency in Philadelphia, is closing and ending 615 jobs on May 24, according to a regulatory notice filed with the state this week. It said some aides might be able to follow their clients to a new agency.
Liberty blamed its decision to stop providing personal care, homemaking services, respite care, and other services in Philadelphia on an unspecified “economic downturn.”
The agency is part of Liberty Resources Inc, a nonprofit that provides services and education to encourage people with disabilities to live independently.
The layoff notice came nine days after United Homecare Workers of Pennsylvania, which represents Liberty Home Choices employees, sued Liberty Home Resources in federal court in Philadelphia over the way the agency was planning to close.
The complaint seeks an order blocking the agency from continuing to pursue its wind-down until an arbitrator can rule in a dispute over whether the agency violated the union contract and another agreement by not negotiating with the union “before unilaterally transferring bargaining unit work.“
Liberty has been directing attendants and their clients to move to Angels of Care LLC, a nonunion agency based in Montgomery County, according to the complaint. That means that some of the workers may lose health insurance. Others may lose accrued time off or referral bonus, the complaint says.
Officials at Liberty did not immediately respond to a request for more information. SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania, a labor union that represents the impacted workers in a joint venture with the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Liberty Resources, the parent organization of the homecare agency, had $32 million in revenue in the year ended June 30, 2024, which is the most recent available information. It had an $805,000 operating loss that year.
Liberty’s shutdown comes as advocates in Pennsylvania mount their annual budget-season campaign to increase wages for homecare workers. Pennsylvania’s pay rates lag all surrounding states.