The U.S. Supreme Court recently addressed medical residents are “students” exempt from FICA taxes under 26 USC § 3121(b)(10). In a unanimous decision, dated January 11, 2011, the Court ruled that medical residents are employees rather than students and, therefore, are subject to FICA taxes. See Mayo Found. for Med. Educ. & Research v.
January 2011
Labor Board Considering Change to Long-Term Care Bargaining Units to Promote Unionization
By Ana C. Shields on
Posted in Long Term Care
In a move seen to make union organizing easier, the National Labor Relations Board has signaled it may be changing its standards for long-term healthcare bargaining units so that narrow groups of nursing and assisted living facility employees can be approved for NLRB elections and collective bargaining. It has invited interested parties to file amicus…
Court Holds No Private Right of Action in “Church Amendment,” Dismisses Nurse’s Claim Against Hospital
By Ana C. Shields on
Posted in Policies
The Church Amendment (42 U.S.C. §300a-7(c)) provides that no entity receiving federal funding may discriminate in the employment of any physician or health care personnel because he or she performed or refused to perform a lawful sterilization procedure or abortion. An Operating Room Nurse filed suit against a New York hospital arguing that the hospital…
NNU Negotiates Short Staffing Penalty Clause
By Ana C. Shields on
Posted in Labor
On December 1, 2010, NNU’s affiliate, the Michigan Nurses Association (MNA) ratified a new collective bargaining agreement with Sparrow Hospital in Lansing calling for penalties of up to $1,200 in cases where the Hospital fails to rectify a staffing shortage. The Union claims that this new staffing language is “second to none.”
Economic terms of…