Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare’s St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Mass., violated federal labor law 14 times, a judge ruled Jan. 30.
Here are six things to know:
1. St. Vincent Hospital was found to have violated several sections of the National Labor Relations Act between 2022 and 2023, according to a decision by U.S. Administrative Law Judge Susannah Merritt. The complaint was originally filed Feb. 18, 2022, by the Massachusetts Nurses Association.
2. Specific violations included denying union representatives access to the hospital, requiring 24 hours’ notice before visiting and bypassing the union to deal directly with employees by entering into individual incentive agreement contracts, according to the Jan. 30 filing in the National Labor Relations Board’s Boston region.
3. Other violations focus on compensation, including the hospital informing employees it would withhold bonus payments owed under shift incentive contracts, blaming the union for failure to make bonus payments and reducing the amount it paid employees under its shift bonus incentive.
4. Ms. Merritt ordered the hospital to cease and desist from the violations, make affected employees whole for any loss of earnings and other benefits, and post notices informing employees that the NLRB found the hospital violated federal labor law.
5. St. Vincent Hospital appealed the ruling to the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Feb. 11. The hospital was given a Feb. 27 deadline to file exceptions to the judge’s decision. It then requested a 90-day extension, but was only granted an extension to March 30.
6. Nurses at St. Vincent went on strike for nearly 10 months in 2021 and 2022 — the longest nurses’ strike in Massachusetts history.
Becker’s has reached out to Tenet Healthcare and St. Vincent Hospital for comment and will update this story if more information becomes available.
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