The main entrance of Backus Hospital in Norwich, Connecticut. Credit: Staraction / Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia
The Backus Federation of Nurses AFT Local 5149 has gone to federal court seeking an injunction against Hartford Healthcare, owners of Backus Hospital in Norwich, claiming the company has refused to adhere to new state laws restricting mandatory overtime.
Union officials said they had tried on multiple occasions to talk with Hartford Healthcare about 2023’s Conn. Gen. Stat. § 19a-490, which prohibits nurses from working more than a 12-hour shift in a 24-hour period.
“Our goal is to have the hospital comply with the law, not to be in federal court,” said Attorney Eric Chester, representing the nurses.
Chester said their original legal challenge was filed in state court, but Hartford Healthcare and their lawyers see the case differently.
“They’re asserting that that state law is pre-empted by federal labor law, the National Labor Relations Act, which does govern the bargaining relationship between the union and the hospital,” Chester said. “But it’s the union’s view, and it’s the nurses’ view, that the state law is pretty clear, and that it’s certainly enforceable.”
Hartford Healthcare has also filed a motion to dismiss the case, along with a memorandum supporting dismissal.
Chester said state legislators enacted a very straightforward law restricting mandatory overtime for nurses to help improve patient safety by reducing medical errors “that could come as a result of exhausted, overextended nurses caring for patients.”
As a result of the change in venue from state to federal court, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong’s office become involved when a federal judge asked them to review the case for their opinion.
Cara Passaro, who is a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s office, confirmed that their attorneys are looking over the dispute.
“The Office of the Attorney General recently received a notice of a constitutional challenge to a public health statute. The issue was raised in litigation between the Backus Federation of Nurses, Local 5149, AFT-CT, AFL-CIO, and William W. Backus Hospital. We are currently reviewing the claims made by the parties,” she said, adding that the court requested their response by early February.
In the meantime, nurses at Backus Hospital are continuing have worked out a system to help cover additional shiftwork, according to Heather Brauth, treasurer for the Backus Nurses Union, and a registered nurse herself. She has also been impacted by the overtime issue.
“Leadership is following directives from upper-level management and of course, the lawyers on their side, to not make any changes with how the on-call was being scheduled,” Brauth said. “So, there are still schedules going out with on-call being tacked on after working shifts.”
Brauth says the situation is far from ideal but her nursing colleagues from the hospital’s Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) have stepped in to help.
“Our nurses have taken that responsibility on themselves to take those on-call shifts away from one another to help prevent one another from being forced to work more than 12 hours,” she said.
Brauth says they weren’t surprised when the hospital asked to have their case redirected to federal court, saying their lawyers had warned them of the possibility.
“We came into this knowing that we would be playing a game of chess and not a game of checkers. So, I think, we aren’t as disappointed as maybe some might think because we were expecting to play the long game on this and that’s what we’re doing,” Brauth said. “We’re going to keep fighting for it because we know that our patients deserve us to be at 100% they deserve our best, and if we can’t give them our best, we’re going to fight for it. If the hospital’s preventing us from giving the patients our best, we’re going to fight for our patients.”
Hartford Healthcare did not immediately respond to questions for this story.