The New York State Nurses Affiliation has filed a grievance with a state labor board after it says a nurse practitioner was suspended with out pay at Kings County Hospital Heart in retaliation for union organizing.
NYC Well being + Hospitals, which administers town’s public hospitals, suspended ICU nurse practitioner Sarah Dowd over what it known as an “alleged act of misconduct” on Oct. 6. The letter offered no particulars on the alleged infraction, however data submitted as a part of the union’s problem to the suspension present that H+H alleges Dowd improperly pulled nurses from their duties to debate union issues, a cost she denies.
Dowd informed The Metropolis Reporter that she wasn’t on the clock that day, however was within the hospital in her function as a union official, speaking to nurses about staffing points which have plagued Kings County for months, a follow often called “rounding.”
Any suggestion that Dowd pulled her nurse colleagues from the bedside as a way to have these conversations is “categorically false,” Dowd informed The Metropolis Reporter.
In an announcement, H+H spokesperson Stephanie Buhle mentioned the hospital system “totally helps nurses’ proper to fulfill with their union representatives as outlined in our contract and as acceptable for affected person care. Our sufferers’ security is our precedence, and we admire the nurses who put this dedication into follow each day.”
A metropolis hospitals official mentioned that as many as ten nurses had left their assignments to fulfill with Dowd.
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Dowd is the vp of Kings County’s native bargaining unit — basically the union native protecting nursing employees at that hospital. In that function, she mentioned she had “rounded” her personal unit and others on the hospital “numerous” instances.
On Oct. 6, Dowd was within the hospital’s medical-surgical unit following up on stories of extreme floating — when hospital directors assign nurses to a number of departments per shift to make up for staffing shortages.
She mentioned that “rounding” is legally protected union exercise as long as it doesn’t intrude with affected person care.
“Clearly, imposing staffing ratios and imposing the contract are two of the key issues that we concentrate on as union individuals,” mentioned Dowd. “I’ve been doing this for the final 10 years.”
In his Oct. 9 letter informing Dowd of her suspension, George Lawrence, Well being + Hospitals’ director of labor relations, additionally banned her from H+H amenities “until you might be receiving therapy as a affected person.”
Points surrounding nurse-to-patient ratios have been a flashpoint of the healthcare labor motion in recent times. It was a serious level of rivalry throughout the weekslong strike by 15,000 nurses at three non-public hospital programs in New York this previous winter.
The nurses union held a rally for Dowd on Thursday outdoors the hospital and filed a proper grievance with the state Public Workers Relations Board difficult Dowd’s suspension.
On the rally, a defiant Dowd informed supporters that her suspension was one of the vital “outrageous, egregious, disgusting examples of retaliation” she had ever witnessed.
“They assume we’re gonna hold our mouths shut as our sufferers are subjected to the deadly penalties of unsafe staffing practices,” she mentioned to the gang of fellow nurses, a few of whom bore indicators studying “Cease Threatening Nurses.” “Our hospital won’t ever be protected if nurses can not elevate the alarm about unsafe staffing practices with out worry of retaliation.”
In its grievance to the board on Thursday, the union formally accused H+H of retaliating in opposition to Dowd for her union work.
Pat Kane, the union’s government director, mentioned in an announcement she was “profoundly disenchanted” by Dowd’s suspension.
“At a time when 1000’s of immigrant healthcare employees have misplaced their jobs and we will anticipate an inflow of uninsured and underinsured sufferers to flood metropolis hospitals, the H+H administration must be working with NYSNA nurses to handle continual understaffing, not combating in opposition to us and unfairly disciplining nurses for being affected person advocates,” Kane mentioned.
