A federal court has ruled managers and administrators of Cayuga Medical Center in Ithaca, N.Y., committed unfair labor practices during a union organizing campaign by nursing staff.
Here are seven takeaways.
1. The ruling stems from allegations by CMC nurses that the hospital had placed unlawful pressure on the nurses during their unionization efforts, Ithaca Times reports.
2. According to the 83-page decision by federal Judge David Goldman of the National Labor Relations Board, the hospital allegedly issued "an assortment of unlawful threats, directives and prohibitions on union activities." Nurses also alleged one employee "received an unlawful disciplinary warning, and another was targeted over the course of several months for her union activity and received an unlawful suspension, disciplinary warning, demotion and an adverse performance evaluation."
3. In his ruling, Judge Goldman agreed that the employer violated federal labor law, as alleged, although he did dismiss several allegations of the initial lawsuit, filed in July 2015.
4. In his ruling, Judge Goldman said he finds it clear that the hospital, while permitting a significant amount of union activity, "took issue with the activism of certain of its nurses." Specifically, he said, the CMC's conflicts with the union activities of one of its nurses, Anne Marshall, led to "a very real and generalized" decline in the relationship between Ms. Marshall and the hospital. "Not all of the managerial conflict with [Ms.] Marshall was motivated by anti-union animus. However, the net result of her union activity and her protected and concerted efforts to challenge the hospital on staffing issues was an employer that engaged in unlawfully motivated and discriminatory targeting of her, which led directly to the adverse actions taken against her by the hospital," the judge wrote.
5. The judge also ruled that acts committed by the hospital after it found out about labor-organizing activity — including several emails to nursing staff encouraging them to report any harassing union activity to administration — were against federal labor law, Ithaca Times reports.
6. Judge Goldman ordered CMC to pay financial compensation to Ms. Marshall for the adverse effects its actions created and to post a copy of a notice informing employees the hospital violated national labor law within view of employees, according to the report.
7. In a statement provided to Ithaca Times, the hospital said its lawyers would be appealing the decision in federal court.
"Cayuga Medical Center strongly disagrees with the ruling by the National Labor Relations Board," the hospital said. "We have always maintained a supportive workplace for our employees as we partner together to deliver the highest quality care to our patients and the community. We will be appealing the ruling by filing exceptions to the decision by the Nov. 25 deadline."
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