When we think of labor relations, we automatically think about unions, but labor relations also include non-unionized employees in healthcare organizations as well.
Many healthcare facilities like hospitals are unionized and have collective bargaining units representing their employees. The National Labor Relations Act governs these collective bargaining units. This law requires that both employees and employers follow specific regulations and procedures to create and maintain union status. The law prevents either side from using unfair labor practices. The law applies to healthcare unions just like all other unions. Employees must pay dues to the union, and employers cannot discriminate against employees because of bargaining status.
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Get Help Now!In addition to prohibitions on union discrimination, employers may not discriminate upon the basis of race, color, age, religion, sex, or national origin. This applies to all employers, including healthcare organizations. The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) also applies to all employers, but employees in the healthcare field face unique safety challenges that others do not. The OSH Act requires employers keep employees safe from workplace hazards. Employees have the right to be free from injury due to workplace hazards.
Healthcare employees also have the same protections as all employees when it comes to leave time and job protections. The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires that eligible employees may take up to 12 weeks of approved leave without losing their jobs. Other workplace protections include workers’ compensation. Worker’s compensation allows employees to be paid a portion of their income after they are injured and cannot work.
For example, a nurse is conducting her patient rounds. She does not notice some type of substance on the floor and slips and falls. She falls directly on her side and injures her hip. Later, it is discovered that the substance was oil from when a maintenance man was repairing a copier at the nurses’ station and did not notice that he spilled a little machine oil in the hallway floor. The nurse is in pain and needs to recover. She is not able to work for some time. In this instance, the nurse would be covered under workers’ compensation and would receive a percentage of her paycheck while she was not able to work. Workers’ compensation was designed as a no-fault insurance provided by the employer. It means that the employee is guaranteed coverage, within some guidelines.
Even though some hospitals are unionized, most employees of any organization are subject to at-will status. At-will means that an employee not under contract can be terminated for any reason or no reason at all provided it is not discriminatory. There are a few exceptions worth noting, including whistleblowing and public policy, but at-will employment provides little job protections for employees.
Whistleblowers expose criminal or unethical behaviors in an organization. They are protected under state and federal whistleblower statutes.
For example, imagine that you are a billing clerk for a hospital. You are routinely performing your job and paying bills until you notice some of the bills you are paying for a specific physician look like they might be double billing for the same patients. The patients that appear to be double billed are only Medicare patients. You ask your supervisor about it, and he says that maybe it is a mistake and maybe it is not. He goes on to say that it does not really matter that much as Medicare is a guaranteed payer. The supervisor also says that it is a federal program and can afford it and that the hospital routinely rotates which doctor double bills their senior patients. However, he says, the hospital only does it for Medicare patients. This is, of course, unethical and also illegal. You do not feel comfortable knowingly participating in fraud. You go to your supervisor again to let him know you are going to go higher up if the situation is not corrected. He actually agrees with your conclusion, and he says he will take it to management.
A couple weeks go by, and you are still getting these fraudulent bills. You go back to your supervisor, and he says they are working on a resolution. Fearing he is just telling you what you want to hear and that there will be no change in billing, the next day you report this billing fraud directly to the Medicare fraud division. This happens on a Friday. You return to work on Monday to realize your job has been eliminated, and you have been dismissed.
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The post When we think of labor relations, we automatically think about unions, but labor relations also include non-unionized employees in healthcare organizations as well. appeared first on My Nursing Papers.
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