A federal judge has ordered Affinity Medical Center to bargain with its registered nurses and to reinstate a nurse who was terminated after nurses voted to join a union in 2012.
The ruling, issued Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge John Adams of the Northern Ohio District, is the third injunction within a year against affiliates of Tennessee-based Community Health Systems, for violations of federal labor law, according to a news release from the National Nurses Organizing Committee in Ohio. NNOC is an affiliate of National Nurses United....
... Ann Wayt must be offered in writing reinstatement to her former job. "The evidence demonstrates reasonable cause to determine ... unfair labor practice with regard to Ms. Wayt," according to the order.The judge also ordered an end to disciplining, discharging and reporting employees to the State Board of Nursing because of union "activities, sympathies or support" and to stop threats of harm to registered nurses who submit forms to management objecting to unsafe patient care assignments. Copies of the ruling are to be posted at the hospital and read to employees, according to the order.
