Arizona Nurses Sue Hospital Association and Hospitals for Fixing Nurses' Wages
Jul 26, 2007 - Keller Rohrback L.L.P. Press Release
PHOENIX, July 2, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Two nurses in Arizona have brought class action complaints in U.S. District Court against the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association and 12 other Arizona hospital corporations, charging that for years they have conspired to lower the wages paid to temporary nurses at hospitals throughout Arizona.
The lawsuits charge that the hospital association -- known as AzHHA -- has coordinated the conspiracy by administering a registry program, used by many hospitals in Arizona, that was originally designed to improve nursing quality, but was turned into a cartel to depress nurses wages. AzHHA, with the active support and participation of many Arizona hospitals, controls much of the market for nursing services, and has forced nurses to accept low wages.
In May, the U.S. Department of Justice and the State of Arizona sued AzHHA for illegally conspiring to set the wages of temporary and traveling nurses. In response to that suit, AzHHA reportedly has agreed to abandon its anticompetitive practices, but that did not compensate nurses for the years of lowered wages they suffered. Today's lawsuits aim to do just that, by seeking damages for suppressed wages for nursing services beginning in 1997.
Read the full release here.