A federal court has concurred with an arbitrator's decision ordering Service Employees International Union 121RN to pay Riverside (Calif.) Community Hospital, part of Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare, $6.26 million in damages related to a 10-day strike held in June 2020, according to court documents accessed by Becker's.
Following hearings in late 2022, the arbitrator found that SEIU 121RN violated the collective bargaining agreement, which outlines terms under which unions are allowed to strike.
Specifically, the arbitrator found that workers "struck for permissible reasons, related to staffing issues, and impermissible reasons, over safety issues related to COVID-19, which was not allowed under the CBA," according to court documents.
Furthermore, the arbitrator also found the prestrike flyer the union issued to nurses "expanded the purpose of the strike beyond the staffing dispute to include the availability of [personal protective equipment] and other staffing concerns."
The arbitrator subsequently issued a second written opinion awarding the hospital $6.26 million to cover strike-related costs.
On Jan. 22, U.S. District Judge Kenly Kato of the Central District of California validated the arbitrator's ruling.
"The union showed a gross disregard for the well-being of our community when they decided to abandon patients by calling for an unlawful strike in 2020," said Jackie Van Blaricum, who was the hospital's CEO during the strike and is now president of HCA Healthcare's far west division, in a news release shared with Becker's. "We are grateful the federal court has upheld the arbitrator's decision."
Rosanna Mendez, executive director for SEIU 121RN, stood by the union's belief that hospital nurses were within their rights to strike.
"The union and its members will never stop fighting and speaking out to protect patient care and to ensure safe working conditions in healthcare, including when we see troubling patterns of management decision-making at Riverside Community Hospital," Ms. Mendez said in a statement shared with Becker's.
"We disagree with the way that HCA has characterized the strike both generally and in the appeal process, and we disagree with this current ruling around the arbitration. As such, nurses will continue to weigh our next legal options along with how to best raise awareness about the many concerns that frontline nurses have about the HCA business model above and beyond this one particular ruling, which we consider to be at odds with the facts on the ground and the broader interests of patients and the public."