The National Labor Relations Board determined an administrative law judge will hear three unfair labor practice charges filed against Pittsfield, Mass.-based Berkshire Medical Center by the Massachusetts Nurses Association.
This determination is not a ruling on the charges, but means the judge will hear the case. The NLRB's "action to allow the allegations to go forward to a hearing is a preliminary step in a process that may take as long as two or three years to fully resolve," the hospital's legal counsel said in a statement.
Here are nine things to know.
1. The union, which represents nearly 800 BMC nurses, highlighted various allegations against the hospital in an April 3 news release, primarily taking issue with the hospital's handling of a nurse strike in October 2017.
2. The union alleges BMC violated nurses' protected rights to authorize and initiate a strike by "misrepresenting the consequences of a vote to strike" and "threatening to stop health insurance benefits for nurses while on a one-day strike." This charge is based on a letter sent to nurses last July by now retired BMC Vice President of Human Resources Arthur Milano.
3. The union also alleges BMC violated federal labor law by not responding to nurses' requests for correspondence, contracts and documents between the hospital and the staffing agency it used for replacement workers during the October strike and subsequent work stoppage.
4. Additionally, the union alleges BMC did not respond to the MNA's request for health insurance data in a timely manner. The MNA indicated nurses sought the data to help determine their health insurance rates were determined.
5. BMC's legal counsel said the hospital "is confident in its position on each of the three charges."
6. As far as the first charge, the hospital's legal counsel described Mr. Milano's letter as "a caution to the registered nurses." The statement adds: "Before the strike, however, the hospital arranged to continue its contributions during the strike and told the nurses that there would, if fact, be no interruption. Nevertheless, the legality of Mr. Milano's earlier warning to the nurses of the possibility of a gap in their health insurance coverage will now be subject of formal litigation."
7. With the second charge, BMC's legal counsel said the hospital is prohibited from sharing the staffing contract or contract terms unless the agency provides written consent. "The agency initially did not consent to the hospital's sharing the contract at all, although it later agreed that certain terms of the contract could be shared with an investigator from the National Labor Relations Board," the legal counsel said. "The question of whether the hospital should somehow have turned over the agency contract to the union despite the contract term prohibiting it from doing so will now also be considered by an administrative law judge."
8. Regarding the third charge, the hospital's legal counsel said BMC provided "volumes of information about the health plan," but "strongly believes that detailed information about how plan participants use their health insurance coverage was irrelevant to whatever analysis of the plan the registered nurses wanted to undertake." The legal counsel also said protecting plan participant information was the focus of the hospital's decision.
9. Both sides have been in negotiations since September 2016. Nurses had planned to strike for a second time Feb. 27 after unsuccessful attempts to resolve contract issues such as staffing and health insurance. However, the MNA said those strike plans were postponed.
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