If they do qualify, Temple will end up footing the bill because, like many large employers, it does not contribute to the Pennsylvania trust fund that pays unemployment. Instead, it pays unemployment-compensation claims directly as they arise.
Some workers are already receiving unemployment compensation, according to one of the nurses. She applied and was told to expect payment Friday.
In separate interviews, Cruice and hospital chief executive officer Sandy Gomberg said the issue was under consideration now by the state agency that administers unemployment compensation.
Under Pennsylvania labor law, whether a work stoppage is a strike or a lockout "depends on which party affects the status quo," said David Smith, a spokesman for the state Department of Labor and Industry.
Workers strike. Employers lock out.
"At no time was there actually any basis [to consider this] a lockout as it relates to eligibility for unemployment," Gomberg said.
The union disagrees.
The issue stems from what turned out to be the final sticking point on the last day of four intense days of negotiations at the Holiday Inn in Old City - the tuition-reimbursement benefit for employees' dependents.
Some time in the middle of this decade, Temple Hospital upgraded its college-tuition benefit for dependents of employees, providing $3,500 per semester to be used to offset tuition at any college.
In March 2009, hospital management decided to eliminate the benefit, giving employees a two-semester grace period. Gomberg said the other unions went along with what she described as a policy change.
PASNAP did not. It filed unfair-labor-practice charges with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, saying that Temple had to negotiate that kind of change.
