Ontario, Calif.-based Prime Healthcare, its foundation, CEO Prem Reddy, MD, and several executives have sued National Nurses United and its affiliate, the California Nurses Association, alleging harassment, defamation and invasion of privacy, according to a complaint filed Oct. 5 in San Bernardino County Superior Court. Three union representatives are also named as defendants.
The lawsuit is Prime’s second against the unions in recent weeks. In a Sept. 14 complaint filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Prime, as the sole plaintiff, made similar allegations about union activity near executives’ homes and sought court orders limiting picketing, banners and gatherings there. The new complaint names individual executives as plaintiffs and adds claims including defamation, interference with business relationships and civil conspiracy.
The complaint alleges union representatives distributed fliers with photos of executives’ homes in their neighborhoods and posted executives’ personal phone numbers online, after which the executives received hundreds of calls, some containing threats. It also alleges the unions published false statements about Prime Healthcare Foundation’s finances, including its charity care spending.
The plaintiffs are seeking damages and court orders barring publication of statements they allege are false, disclosure of executives’ personal contact information and conduct directed at their homes, according to the complaint. In a news release, Prime said the lawsuit does not seek to restrict lawful organizing, bargaining or protest.
In a statement to Becker’s, National Nurses Organizing Committee/NNU said Prime is seeking to use the lawsuit to suppress nurses’ free-speech rights. “Nurses will never stop speaking up for their patients,” the union said.
The lawsuit comes amid organizing and bargaining at several Prime hospitals. Nurses at Olympia Fields (Ill.) Hospital voted Sept. 23 to join the NNONC, and nurses at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston voted Sept. 24 to do the same, according to the union. A union election at Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston, Ill., was postponed by the National Labor Relations Board.
The NNOC also said more than 1,800 of the Prime workers it represents are in active contract negotiations.
