Oct 29, 2013 2 min read

UPMC is a behemoth in Western Pennsylvania. Its name is affixed to numerous hospitals, including facilities in McKeesport, Monroeville and Altoona, the Magee-Women’s Hospital in Oakland, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and scores of outpatient, urgent care and retirement facilities.

Yet, surprisingly, it has no employees.

That’s the eyebrow-raising claim that an attorney for UPMC made in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court last week. In a contentious dispute with the city of Pittsburgh over whether the UPMC conglomerate should maintain its tax-exempt status, UPMC attorney William Pietragallo argued UPMC doesn’t have any employees, because the doctors, nurses, pharmacists, physical therapists, social workers and legions of other employees under the UPMC umbrella are actually the employees of its subsidiaries.

This claim was made despite the fact UPMC has said in its marketing materials it employs more than 50,000 people and, in a tax filing and an annual report, made similar assertions. With upwards of $20 million per year in taxes on the line, the city would likely be forced to sue each entity if it wanted to get that money, rather than the whole consortium, if it is found that UPMC, technically, has no one on its payroll.

No matter how Common Pleas Judge R. Stanton Wettick rules, it’s time for UPMC officials to make up their minds – are they “Pennsylvania’s largest employer,” as they claim on their website, or do they, in fact, have fewer employees than a small-town hardware store?