Care workers aren't getting paid, again

PITTSBURGH — Thousands of home health care workers across the state haven’t received a paycheck.  The company that began processing payroll for them this month says it is working aggressively to get them paid.

On January 1, Public Partnerships, LLC (PPL) took over payroll processing for workers who care for the elderly and disabled.  The transition from 37 former agencies to one has not gone as smoothly as the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania had hoped.

“We are getting to calls as fast as we can,” said Dina Baker, a spokeswoman for PPL.  Baker is asking for workers to be patient, saying everything will be ironed out in the next few weeks.

PPL has paid more than 10,000 direct care workers.  At this point, a Baker says it’s unclear how many workers haven’t been paid, but there are 20,000 program participants, which means thousands of workers haven’t received a paycheck.

PPL says it hasn’t received all of the data it needs from agencies such as Christian Financial Management in Pittsburgh.  Christian Financial is the subject of a class action lawsuit for not paying workers in a timely manor.  A judge assigned a receiver, last month, to oversee operations there and to try and facilitate a smooth transition.

Workers who haven’t been paid are being asked to go online to PPL’s portal and follow the instructions they received in their transition packets.

Workers who do not have access to a computer can call 1-877-908-1750.  Baker says calling more than once is not helpful and only slows the process.

WPXI