Judge Tosses Nurses' Lawsuit Against NYC Hospital

NEW YORK CITY — A federal judge on Friday dismissed the New York State Nurses Association's lawsuit against a hospital in The Bronx demanding more protective gear and COVID-19 testing for health care workers, records show.

The nurses' union filed suit against Montefiore Medical Center on April 20 to compel the hospital to take additional steps to "preserve employees’ physical and emotional health," according to U.S. district court records.

But U.S. District Court Judge Jesse M. Furman said Friday it wasn't up to him to resolve the dispute, which is subject to arbitration under a collective bargaining agreement between the union and the hospital.

"That is not to say that Montefiore cannot or should not do more to protect its nurses than it is; it is merely to say that, under the parties’ collective bargaining agreement, that is an issue for the arbitrator, not this Court, to decide," Furman wrote.

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Since the nurses' union filed suit against Montefiore, the hospital has agreed to provide nurses with N95 respirator masks daily, grant legally-required sick pay to nurses who have been out sick with the coronavirus, restore improperly-docked sick pay banks, expand COVID-19 testing to more nurses and provide additional compensation benefits to health care workers, according to union spokesperson Carl Ginsburg.

"These lawsuits were filed to protect our nurses, our patients and our communities from grossly inadequate and negligent protections,” Pat Kane, the union's executive director, said in a statement announcing the lawsuits last month. “We cannot allow these dangerous practices to continue.”

The New York State Nurses Association is also suing the state health department and Westchester Medical Center over supplies of personal protective equipment, or PPE, and working conditions that the union says have jeopardized the health and safety of nurses and other hospital workers.

"All three suits expose, among other failures: not providing impermeable gowns and other PPE to cover RNs bodies; not properly training RNs redeployed from hospital units; inadequate provision of safe working conditions for high-risk employees, including pregnant RNs," the union said in a statement. “Overall, the nurses have not received appropriate masks and carry out assignments in unsafe working conditions.”

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