Most healthcare employers have been dealing with COVID-19 for a year now. With vaccines widely available for this workforce, we offer five considerations for healthcare employers as they move toward a post-pandemic environment.
For years many healthcare providers have required employees to get a flu shot. Are we
Healthcare facilities in California have been required to adhere to mandatory nurse-to-patient ratios since 2004. These ratios vary depending upon the degree of patient care involved. More recently, Massachusetts passed a law requiring mandatory staffing minimums in the state’s ICU’s. Other states are considering jumping on the bandwagon. A California-like bill is currently pending in
As we have just survived one of the worst flu seasons in recent memory, now is a good time to consider whether you should implement or revise a mandatory flu shot policy for 2018. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends all United States healthcare workers obtain annual flu vaccines. While many healthcare employers
Nurses had no right to union representation in their hospital employer’s peer review committee proceedings, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has ruled. Midwest Division – MMC, LLC, dba Menorah Medical Center v. NLRB, No. 15-1312 (D.C. Cir. Aug. 18, 2017). The Court, however, found the hospital violated the National
Denying a hospital’s request to restrain its unionized nurses from refusing overtime assignments after the hospital had announced it would make layoffs, a federal court in Rhode Island concluded the hospital failed to demonstrate that it or its patients would suffer irreparable harm as a result of the nurses’ refusal to work overtime. New England
This article on our Workplace Resource Center about discharging employees for participating in a discussion on Facebook may be of particular interest to healthcare employers grappling with employee misuse of social media.
A hospital’s newly implemented dress code policy was a material, substantial, and significant change to union employees’ terms and conditions of employment that required bargaining with the union, the NLRB has ruled. Salem Hospital Corp., 360 NLRB No. 95 (Apr. 30, 2014).
The hospital maintained a dress code policy, which allowed employees wide latitude
A nursing home’s policy prohibiting off-duty employees from remaining on its premises after their shift “unless previously authorized by” their supervisor interfered with the labor rights of employees, the NLRB has ruled. Piedmont Gardens, 360 NLRB No. 100 (May 1, 2014).
The union filed unfair labor practice charges against the employer, alleging among other
A hospital’s code of conduct forbidding comments that stray beyond “fair criticism” and behavior detrimental to “promoting teamwork” were unlawful, NLRB Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Susan Flynn has ruled. William Beaumont Hospital, Case No. 07-CA-093885 (January 30, 2014).
The hospital’s code of conduct stated, in part:
Conduct on the part of a Beaumont employee
A new law has taken effect in New York State prohibiting smoking within 15 feet of a hospital or residential health care facility entrance or exit. The law specifically permits smoking by “a patient or a visitor or guest of a patient of a residential health care facility” in a specially designated area on the