District 1199J, an AFSCME local chapter representing former employees of Heights University Hospital in Jersey City, N.J., has filed a complaint in New Jersey state court accusing the hospital of violating the state’s WARN Act when it abruptly closed most of its operations in late 2025 without providing adequate notice to employees.
The complaint, filed March 9 in the Superior Court of New Jersey, comes after Secaucus, N.J.-based Hudson Regional Health closed Heights University Hospital in November following the system’s failure to secure critical state funding. At the time of the closure, Hudson Regional said the facility’s 24/7 emergency department would remain open, but in February the health system announced plans to close the emergency department on March 14 unless alternative funding is secured. The ED is projected to lose $30 million this year.
According to the complaint, the health system closed Tower 3 in October with only two days’ notice, then shut down most of its operations in November with essentially one day’s notice. About 147 union members were employed there at the time — by Nov. 16, only 18 remained. Approximately 92 were laid off, and several hundred total hospital employees lost their jobs, the union claims.
In a statement provided to Becker’s, Hudson Regional spokesman Vijay Chaudhuri said the vast majority of affected employees were offered continued employment without a pay reduction at other facilities within the HRH network. He also said “there is no lawsuit, as the matter is in arbitration.”
The union is seeking severance pay, four weeks’ additional pay, lost wages, benefits and attorneys’ fees.
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