Federal appeals court upholds labor board decision on fired hospital employee
BOSTON The United States First Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a decision by the National Labor Relations Board finding that Maine Coast Memorial Hospital, now Northern Light Maine Coast Hospital, violated federal labor laws by firing a nurse who wrote a letter to the editor criticizing the hospital administration amid a merger with Eastern Maine Health Care Systems (EMHS) in 2017.
The federal court issued its decision May 26.
Hospital spokeswoman Suzanne Spruce said the organization is disappointed by the court’s decision.
“While Northern Light Maine Coast Hospital will certainly abide by the court’s decision, we are nonetheless disappointed that the court declined to vacate the decision of the NLRB in its entirety,” said Spruce. “In our view, if the law provides an absolute shield to a subordinate employee who, with no basis in fact, publicly accuses her organization’s senior l
Hospitals and other businesses will need to rethink bans on talking to the media and other efforts to gag their employees.
The John Joseph Moakley U.S. Courthouse in Boston, home of the First Circuit Court of Appeals. (Photo by Beyond My Ken from Wikipedia Commons via Courthouse News)
BOSTON (CN) Companies that have been trying to shut down employees’ public criticisms of their conduct, especially in the wake of the pandemic, will need to reconsider their policies in light of a First Circuit ruling.
The appeals court ruled Wednesday that a hospital worker shouldn’t have been fired for complaining to a newspaper about staffing practices. The case that has drawn national attention due to the large number of health care workers who have recently been terminated or disciplined for speaking out about inadequate protection during the pandemic.