UPMC settles with blacklisted travel nurse
Hospital blacklisted travel nurse after speaking to media about conditions
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UPMC has reached a settlement with a travel nurse whom the organization blacklisted in 2022, after she spoke to the media about pressure on nurses at UPMC Altoona to care for more patients than they believed they could handle safely.
The hospital must reimburse Dina Norris of Bellwood for lost wages and benefits and for travel and lodging costs associated with work she obtained after the blacklisting; must post assurances at its facilities that it will no longer interfere with employees' exercising their right to speak about shared workplace concerns, including to the media; and must reinstate Norris to her previous post -- a benefit she has waived.
"The good guys won," Norris said in a recent phone interview.
UPMC declined to comment, as its policy is not to do so on settlements, according to UPMC spokeswoman Sarah Deist.
Norris declined to say how much settlement money the organization paid her, but said it doesn't include punitive compensation.
In contesting the blacklisting, Norris worked with SEIU-Healthcare PA, the union that represents registered nurses at UPMC Altoona, and with the National Labor Relations Board, both of which provided lawyers.
The participation of the union is "remarkable," given that she was not a member at the time of the blacklisting, she said.
She is a former union member, however, and was working with union members at the time, in fighting the problematic conditions at the hospital, she said.
UPMC likes to stall, and she might not have been able to hold on financially if not for the outside help, she said.
Moreover, she shares the union's passion for upholding worker rights, she said.
Before the media interviews that led to her termination and the cancellation of her current contract and a new one she'd signed up for, hospital staffers asked whether she was worried about losing her job.
She didn't see a reason for concern.
When her recruiter called to explain that she was no longer part of the crew and wasn't welcome to reapply, she understood.
"There is such a culture of fear within those walls," she said.
The settlement is based on UPMC's punishing Norris for protected "concerted" workplace speech.
Concerted workplace speech involves concerns that are not just personal, but rather generalizable about issues like pay, safety, scheduling or work rules, according to an online source.
The concept is foundational under U.S. labor law, according to the source.
Such speech can't be defamatory, Norris said.
"When I was speaking to the media, I never once bashed UPMC," she said. "At no point did I go outside of those (concerted speech) bounds."
Her complaint to the media was triggered by an incident on the ortho-neuro-trauma unit in May 2022.
All five registered nurses on that unit were caring for seven patients each, when they were each asked to take an additional patient.
Citing safety concerns, they all refused, which led to an administrator saying their names were heading for the state Board of Nursing, Norris told the Mirror at the time.
Norris spoke to the media about the situation in company with a union nurse.
The union nurse suffered none of the consequences that befell Norris.
One of the key benefits of the recent settlement is that it shows that agency nurses have the same core rights as union members, Norris said.
After the cancellation of her contracts, Norris applied for work with another UPMC facility and was turned down, helping to confirm that the blacklisting had occurred -- something that internal UPMC emails also confirmed, she said.
Norris and her lawyers were prepping for trial until March, when UPMC settled, a week before a trial was to begin, Norris said.
While she'll be receiving a sum of money whose amount she declined to disclose, it's not really about the money, she said.
Rather, it's about keeping such illegal behavior from happening again, and shining "a light on dark areas of work practices with this company," she said.
"Big companies sometimes do bad things," she said.
"I feel relieved it's settled," she said. "It was a long four-year battle."
Norris shared a copy of a letter addressed to her from UPMC's Corporate Legal Department.
"Enclosed please find the settlement checks related to the above captioned unfair labor practice charge," the letter states.
"(T)his letter will serve as formal notice that both UPMC Altoona and UPMC Travel Staffing have removed from their records all references to the May 2022 cancellation of your contracts to perform work, and those cancellations will not be used as the basis for any future personnel action or made reference to in response to any inquiry by any employer, prospective employer, employment agency, unemployment insurance office or reference seeker."
Norris also shared a copy of the posting: headed by "THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS ACT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO:
– Form, join or assist a union;
– Choose a representative to bargain with us on your behalf;
– Act together with other employees for your benefit and protection;
– Choose not to engage in any of these protected activities."
There follows paragraphs in which UPMC says "we will not interfere with the exercise of the rights enumerated above"; "we will not threaten to report you to the PA Board of Nursing because you engage in protected activities, including complaints about staffing and nurse-to-patient ratios"; "we will not terminate your work contract for those sorts of activities"; "we will not refuse to hire or consider you for hire because you engaged in protected concerted activities, including speaking to the media about your terms and conditions of employment."
There are additional paragraphs in which the organization promises to revise its policies and its employee handbook to reflect the protections previously expressed; to eliminate references in its files about the cancellation of Norris' contracts; to consider Norris eligible for work at UPMC facilities; and to pay her compensation for what it has previously done.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.