Over a month after a local health care provider laid off more than 50 employees, little still is known about the circumstances surrounding the decision. Grand River Medical Group laid off 52 employees on Feb. 1, according to documents the company filed with Iowa Workforce Development. Since then, the company has remained relatively silent about the reasons for the layoffs. However, multiple people associated with Grand River Medical Group told the Telegraph Herald that non-compete agreements are being enforced for at least some of the medical care providers who lost their jobs. Those agreements bar the providers from practicing their specialty within 35 miles of Dubuque for one year. Members of the public and former patients have publicly called on the medical group to release the providers from those agreements, saying they force laid-off employees to find work outside the community during a health care workforce crisis. A recent Change.org petition titled “Stop Grand River Medical Group from running providers out of Dubuque Communities” had picked up 202 signatures by late Friday.
