Union: One of five Tri-City nurses reinstated

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/05/19/news/coastal/2_04_225_18_07.txt

Union: One of five Tri-City nurses reinstated

By: PAUL SISSON - Staff Writer

OCEANSIDE -- A union official said Friday night that one of five nurses who was fired for allegedly violating hospital privacy standards at Tri-City Medical Center has been reinstated.

"The nurse has chosen not to pursue the (grievance) further and she is back to work," said John Stead-Mendez, labor representative for the California Nurses Association.

Hospital officials could not be reached Friday for comment on the apparent reinstatement.

Those same officials announced one week ago, on May 11, that they had fired 10 employees -- five nurses, three technicians and two secretaries -- for allegedly accessing, photographing and printing a patient's X-ray in violation of the hospital's patient-privacy polices.

Because Tri-City is a public hospital, all 10 of the fired employees were entitled to a hearing, sometimes called a Skelly hearing, to present information they believe invalidates the reasons for their firings. The hearings grew out of a 1975 case, called Skelly v. State Board of Personnel, that found that public employees are guaranteed certain rights of due process.

Stead-Mendez declined to say specifically what evidence the union had presented on the reinstated nurse's behalf. But he added that the fight is not over for the other four nurses, whose firings the hospital apparently upheld Friday. The union representative said the nurses union contract includes a formal grievance process that takes effect when any nurse is fired. And he said that the union will pursue that process with the four remaining nurses.

"Hopefully, we will be able to resolve this situation through the grievance process, but if not, then we have arbitration available to us," Stead-Mendez said.