Judge Green Lights Nurse Lawsuit Alleging Hospitals Colluded to Suppress Wages amidst Growing RN Shortage
A major class action lawsuit filed on behalf of bedside nurses in Memphis, TN alleging hospitals have colluded to hold down nurses wages is moving forward.
MEMPHIS, TN – A major class action lawsuit filed on behalf of bedside nurses in Memphis, TN alleging hospitals have colluded to hold down nurses wages is moving forward. Similar lawsuits have been filed in Albany, NY, Chicago, Il, San Antonio, TX, and Detroit, MI. In his decision, Judge Samuel H. Mays, Jr. denied the motion to dismiss filed by the hospitals, stating:
“Plaintiffs have stated facts sufficient to support their claim that Defendants conspired to depress RN employee compensation.”
“This is a tremendous victory for nurses and patients. RNs provide the one-on-one care that is so important to patients and are a central part of the healthcare team,” said Cathy Singer-Glasson, RN, President of the Nurse Alliance of SEIU. “But a growing number of registered nurses are leaving the profession because of poor working conditions and inadequate wages. It’s outrageous that hospitals may actually be worsening the shortage by working illegally to hold down our wages.”
The Nurse Alliance of SEIU unveiled a new white paper, Solving the Nursing Shortage through Higher Wages, from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, citing low pay, short staffing, and mandatory overtime as conditions that have caused nurses to leave the bedside. The report showed how raising nurse salaries will help draw more nurses back to the profession. That research, combined with work that the Nurse Alliance’s Value Care, Value Nurses initiative has done to publicize the issue with nurses, helped expose the problems brought to light by the lawsuits. More information, including a copy of the IWPR report, is available online at www.ValueCareValueNurses.org.
With more than 84,000 nurses in 23 states, the Nurse Alliance is one of the largest nurse organizations in the country. Through its Value Care, Value Nurses initiative, nurses are uniting across the country to pursue any and all solutions to bring nurses back to the bedside and raise the standard of care – from enforcement of existing laws, to calling for new legislation protecting nurses and patients, to giving nurses a voice in the delivery of patient care.