On June 25, 2010, the California Court of Appeal concluded that a hospital is not a public forum required to provide first amendment protections. In Community Regional Medical Center v. Carpenters Union Local 701, the appellate court upheld the trial court’s decision to allow Community Regional Medical Center (CRMC), an acute care hospital in Fresno,… Continue Reading
Monthly Archives: June 2010
Minnesota Nurses Call Strike to Begin July 6
On the heels of what was called the largest nursing strike ever, over 12,000 nurses at 14 Twin Cities hospitals plan to strike again beginning July 6. The Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA), part of the National Nurses United (NNU) union, filed the required 10-day strike notice on Friday. If no contract is reached before then, the… Continue Reading
An Interview With Tom Sullivan, Editor of the Healthcare Equality Index (HEI)
The Healthcare Equality Index (HEI), which was discussed in a June 16, 2010 post, is an annual survey by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation that evaluates healthcare facilities on their policies and practices related to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees, patients, and families. The HEI has been described as a benchmarking tool for identifying… Continue Reading
Court Enjoins Strike by California Nurses Association; Minnesota Nurses Authorize Strike
Nurse-patient staffing ratios continue to be a contentious bargaining issue across the country. Earlier this month, the Minnesota Nursing Association, part of the National Nurses United (NNU), called the largest nursing strike in U.S. history to protest staffing ratios. The California Nurses Association (CNA), also part of the NNU attempted to join in the one-day… Continue Reading
Hospital Nurse Staffing Level Bill Proposed in Congress
The federal government and nurses’ unions have recently increased their focus on nurse-to-patient ratios and providing nurses – and nurses’ unions – with greater influence on nurse staffing levels. As reported in a previous post, earlier this month a federal agency used its website to advocate increasing hospital nurse-to-patient ratios. Nurses’ unions also have been… Continue Reading
Supreme Court to Decide Whether Teaching Hospitals Are Required to Withhold Taxes on Services Performed by Residents
The United States Supreme Court has agreed to consider in its next term whether teaching hospitals are required to withhold Social Security and Medicare (“FICA”) taxes from wages for services performed by medical residents. The two consolidated cases that the Court agreed to hear, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research v. United States and… Continue Reading
Hospitals Fall Short Serving LGBT Patients, Says 2010 Healthcare Equality Index
Hospitals across the country have a long way to go in serving the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) patients, according to the 2010 Healthcare Equality Index. pdf (HEI), which rates hospital systems on LGBT issues. The report, issued by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), concluded that Our nation’s hospital system is simply not meeting the needs… Continue Reading
Nurse Fired for Falsifying Time Records Files Wage & Hour Class Action
In yet another putative class and collective action filed against a large hospital system, an employee terminated for falsification of time records is asserting class claims for violation of federal and state wage and hour laws. Earlier this week, in Deppen v. Detroit Medical Center (pdf), a nurse who was fired for theft of time… Continue Reading
Hospital’s Interns and Residents Vote to Join SEIU Following NLRB Ruling
The NLRB announced today that the interns and residents at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, New York, following a count of the ballots they cast in a union election on June 18, 2009, voted by a margin of 119 to 2 to join the Committee of Interns and Residents, a local of the SEIU…. Continue Reading
Minnesota Nurses Strike, California Nurses Rally, Over Bargaining Issues
Twelve thousand members of the Minnesota Nursing Association (MNA), part of National Nurses United (NNU) and in the midst of collective bargaining for new contracts, engaged in what is being called the largest nursing strike in U.S. history on Thursday. Many of the 14 hospitals affected were operating with temporary nurses from across the country and had intentionally… Continue Reading
NLRB Rules that Hospital Interns and Residents Are “Employees” With Right to Organize
As a result of the NLRB’s June 3, 2010 decision (pdf) refusing to review a regional director’s ruling that the interns and residents at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, New York, are employees, the ballots they cast in a union election on June 18, 2009 will shortly be counted. The results of the vote will determine whether… Continue Reading
Unions Extend Their Push For Minimum Nurse-Patient Ratios, Threaten Strikes in California and Minnesota
Organized labor for years has used the nurse-to-patient ratio issue as a rallying cry for legislation. Those efforts were reinvigorated by a recent federal study crediting lower nurse to patient staffing for improved patient outcomes and reduced societal costs. Last month, union representatives rallied at the U.S. Capitol to support strengthened nurse to patient ratios and other healthcare workplace legislation. Eighteen states currently… Continue Reading
Jail Time for Physician’s HIPAA Violation Highlights Need to Redouble Compliance Efforts
A visiting cardiothoracic surgeon from China, working as a researcher at UCLA School of Medicine, became the first person sentenced to prison for unauthorized access to medical records in violation of HIPAA. The few criminal convictions for HIPAA violations to date have involved monetary gain, such as a hospice worker’s use of patient records to… Continue Reading
Federal HHS Agency Touts Nurse-Patient Ratio Study
A research arm of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is touting the benefits of increased nurse-to-patient ratios – long a bargaining and legislative objective of health care unions – based on a theoretical “simulation” study published nine months ago. It is unclear whether a June 2010 post on the website of the… Continue Reading
Health Insurers Not Immune From Class Actions by Call Center Employees
Class and collective actions by call center employees seeking overtime pay for time spent logging on and logging off their computers at the beginning and end of their shifts have become relatively commonplace in telecommunications and computer-related industries. Now these types of claims are spreading to health insurers with large billing, customer service, and sales call… Continue Reading
Wage and Hour Class Actions Against Healthcare Employers Expanding
The rash of class action lawsuits recently filed against healthcare systems across the nation have, for the most part, focused on timekeeping systems that automatically deduct 30 minutes for meal breaks. Now plaintiffs’ lawyers are adding additional claims to wage and hour class actions against healthcare providers, including claims for off-the-clock work allegedly performed at… Continue Reading
One of Largest Ever Jury Verdicts in a Gender Discrimination Class Action
A recent jury award of $3.4 million in compensatory damages and $250 million in punitive damages has provided a chilling example of the inherent risks of defending against a “policy and practice” discrimination class action fueled by anecdotal examples of isolated, inappropriate conduct. Velez v. Novartis, a gender discrimination class action against a major pharmaceutical… Continue Reading