Copyright Chicago Tribune
Unionized nurses at St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet never received a promised pandemic-era bonus, the Illinois Nurses Association alleges in a lawsuit filed in federal court Monday. The petition seeks to compel the hospital, its owner Prime Healthcare and former owner Ascension to go to arbitration over the matter. “They made a promise to workers who worked through a pandemic, then they reneged on that promise,” said John Fitzgerald, chief financial officer of the Illinois Nurses Association. Ascension did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday. Prime said in a statement Tuesday that it “is not involved in this matter in any way.” Prime bought the hospital, along with seven others in Illinois, from Ascension in March. “This issue involves compensation incentives from Ascension during COVID in 2021,” Prime said in the statement. “We support our nurses and have honored their tireless work during the pandemic and continue to be grateful.” According to the petition, Keith Parrott, former CEO of Ascension’s Illinois division, sent an email to all staff in January 2022 announcing that positions that had delivered “patient-facing care” throughout the pandemic would receive “a premium payment of 15% of their total earnings for the month of November 2021.” The email said the incentive pay was among “ways we are addressing staffing challenges,” according to the union’s petition. The email came as the hospital struggled with nursing shortages, and followed years of higher numbers of patients because of COVID-19, according to the petition. “The November Incentive Pay was a unilateral change made by Ascension and the Hospital during a health care emergency intended to incentivize nurses to stay working at the Hospital,” according to the petition. In January and February, the union requested updates on the payment from Ascension’s director of labor relations. In February, the director of labor relations sent a proposed letter of agreement for an incentive that was “significantly less than what was promised” in the CEO’s email, according to the petition. The union then learned in March 2022 that the hospital was giving the bonuses to nonunion workers but not union members. A union representative then sent an email to the labor relations director saying that failing to pay the full amount to union employees would violate the union’s collective bargaining agreement. The hospital and Ascension then declined to pay any of the amount, the petition alleges. The union filed a grievance, but the hospital and Ascension declined to respond to the grievance, according to the petition. The union also requested arbitration over the issue, but the hospital and Ascension declined to go to arbitration saying that it was not a matter that fell under the collective bargaining agreement, according to the petition. The union, meanwhile, argues in the petition that the collective bargaining agreement says that if a health care emergency causes a change in the number of patients, the hospital will take “reasonable action” to maintain adequate staffing levels including making unilateral changes to pay and benefits and that “no such unilateral changes would reduce pay or benefits.” Union employees could be owed “well over” $300,000 in incentive money, according to the petition.
