A court has ruled that a union's robo-call campaign that connected citizens directly to a hospital CEO's phone line is compliant with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, according to a Littler report.
The SEIU launched a campaign in response to a proposal by King's Daughters Medical Center in Ashland, Ky., to shift some healthcare costs onto its employees.
Under the union's campaign, people living within the service area of KDMC received automated phone calls with a prerecorded message that said the hospital CEO, Fred Jackson, "laid off over 100 hospital employees, paid hospital executives bonuses worth over $1 million dollars, and took over $1.1 million in salary and other perks for himself," according to the report.
The message then said that Mr. Jackson planned to cut healthcare for hospital employees. It concluded by asking recipients to press "1" to be connected to Mr. Jackson's phone line. As a result, Mr. Jackson allegedly received 536 live phone calls from area residents in two days.
Ashland (Ky.) Hospital Corp., the parent company of KDMC, filed suit against the union, claiming the robo-call campaign violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which was designed to prevent abusive telemarketing practices that threaten the privacy of consumers and businesses, according to the report.
The SEIU moved to dismiss the complaint and the federal district court granted the motion. But the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the calls to the CEO did not violate the TCPA as they were not made using an automated system, according to the report. The first call to the recipient was between the SEIU's automated system and an area resident, but the second call was from a live area resident to the hospital CEO, and not protected by the TCPA.
The case could increase unions' use of robo-call campaigns to engage the public in hospital management issues, according to the report.
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The SEIU launched a campaign in response to a proposal by King's Daughters Medical Center in Ashland, Ky., to shift some healthcare costs onto its employees.
Under the union's campaign, people living within the service area of KDMC received automated phone calls with a prerecorded message that said the hospital CEO, Fred Jackson, "laid off over 100 hospital employees, paid hospital executives bonuses worth over $1 million dollars, and took over $1.1 million in salary and other perks for himself," according to the report.
The message then said that Mr. Jackson planned to cut healthcare for hospital employees. It concluded by asking recipients to press "1" to be connected to Mr. Jackson's phone line. As a result, Mr. Jackson allegedly received 536 live phone calls from area residents in two days.
Ashland (Ky.) Hospital Corp., the parent company of KDMC, filed suit against the union, claiming the robo-call campaign violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which was designed to prevent abusive telemarketing practices that threaten the privacy of consumers and businesses, according to the report.
The SEIU moved to dismiss the complaint and the federal district court granted the motion. But the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the calls to the CEO did not violate the TCPA as they were not made using an automated system, according to the report. The first call to the recipient was between the SEIU's automated system and an area resident, but the second call was from a live area resident to the hospital CEO, and not protected by the TCPA.
The case could increase unions' use of robo-call campaigns to engage the public in hospital management issues, according to the report.
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