Labor Board files complaint against UPMC after nurse fired

On March 3, the Region 6 office of the National Labor Relations Council filed a complaint against Pittsburgh-based UPMC and one of its subsidiaries, UPMC Altoona of Pennsylvania, over allegations that a nurse was fired from the agency.

Complaint shared with Beckeris a response to SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania’s allegations.

The union claims UPMC violated federal labor law when it retaliated and terminated the employment contract with Deanna Norris, an agency nurse who worked at UPMC Altoona last year.

When such allegations arise, the NLRB investigates the issue and files a complaint if the investigation finds sufficient evidence to support the allegation and if a settlement cannot be reached in a justified case, according to the labor council website. The complaint then leads to a hearing before the NLRB Administrative Law Judge if no agreement is reached.

SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania’s allegations stem from events that occurred in May when Ms. Norris was a nurse on duty at UPMC Altoona’s ortho-neurotrauma unit.

On May 15, the hospital told Ms Norris and four other nurses, who already had seven patients each, that they would have to admit another patient, the union claims. The union claims the nurses collectively expressed their concerns about staffing to management, and then the boss threatened to report the nurses to the state council for patient neglect “until one nurse relented and admitted an eighth patient.”

The union says Ms Norris and another nurse spoke to local television more than a week later about the incident and ongoing staffing problems. According to the union, UPMC Altoona terminated Ms. Norris’ employment with the agency on May 31 for violating UPMC’s media policy, and her file was marked “do not rehire.”

“As a professionally licensed nurse, I have the right and duty to speak for my patients, my colleagues and my profession,” Ms Norris said in a press release. Becker. “The fact that UPMC will take revenge on me and drag this out for almost a year instead of acknowledging and resolving their staffing problems shows the deep disrespect they have for nurses. UPMC may be Pennsylvania’s largest healthcare system, but they are not above the law, and they cannot ignore the needs and concerns of patients and nurses.”

This was announced by a representative of UPMC. Becker: “This person was not an employee of UPMC Altoona and was not employed by any other UPMC organization at the time of these incidents, but was an agency contractor on a temporary assignment. We acted appropriately and followed the parameters of the agency agreement.”

The NLRB ALJ is due to hear arguments related to the allegations at a July 10 hearing.

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