Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.
A lawsuit has been filed by the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) over claims that the Montefiore Medical Center is not protecting nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The plaintiff states that last week, the association filed a grievance under the two parties’ collective bargaining agreement (CBA) which challenged the hospital’s failure to assure the safety of its employees because of the coronavirus.
The NYSNA states that by the time that grievance is heard, it will be too late to remedy the harms that have been caused by the hospital’s failure to adhere to its contractual obligations, including the serious illnesses that the nurses, their patients and their families have already suffered.
The association is asking the court to compel Montefiore to take the necessary steps to protect the nurses’ health and safety, pending the outcome of the grievance that was filed last week.
Is your job not taking the necessary procedures to combat COVID-19? Get legal help by clicking here.
The plaintiff alleges that the nurses they represent have high risk, physically demanding jobs and often face occupational exposure to serious infections such as influenza and tuberculosis.
Even before the coronavirus pandemic hit the nation, the nursing profession had one of the highest rates of occupational injury and illness of any profession, the nurses lawsuit argues.
The toll on the nurses in New York state is severe, the plaintiffs allege. They say that currently at least eight NYSNA RNs have died due to contracting the coronavirus at work, and at least 84 RNs have been hospitalized with life-threatening COVID-19 symptoms.
The nurses also claim that approximately 72 percent of NYSNA members have been exposed to the coronavirus at work and 954 RNs have tested positive for the coronavirus, including at least 150 at Montefiore Medical Center.
“Based on membership survey results, NYSNA estimates that at least another 150 RNs at Montefiore could test positive for COVID-19, unless the Hospital takes immediate steps to assure their health and safety,” the nurses lawsuit goes on to say.
The plaintiff alleges that since January 2020, it has attempted to work with Montefiore to address the impending coronavirus crisis by implementing safety measures for the nurses and their patients. The plaintiff says that their efforts have been widely ignored by the hospital.
In addition, on Feb. 7, 2020, NYSNA requested that Montefiore provide information about its preparedness related to the care of the coronavirus as well as patients who were under investigation for COVID-19.
The plaintiff claims that the hospital did not respond for 17 days and the response was incomplete, which shows just how poorly prepared the hospital was.
The lawsuit also states that the hospital continues to resist any cooperation with NYSNA.
For example, the nurses argue that on April 16, 2020, NYSNA and Montefiore had a call to address the nurses’ widespread and urgent health concerns.
The nurses claim that the hospital could not answer numerous safety and health questions regarding ventilation, stating that they would refer the questions to the health and safety officer.
The NYSNA states that Montefiore has become a major center for treating COVID-19 patients and that the hospital is now “like a war zone.”
The nurses allege that they are treating large numbers of sick and frightening patients, have inadequate equipment and are in rooms that have not been properly converted to safely treat patients with the coronavirus.
The coronavirus lawsuit maintains that the nurses are often working while they are sick because they have been forced back to work too early, many times in practice areas where they have not been trained, and sometimes without testing to make sure that they are not infecting other nurses as well as patients.
“NYSNA brings this lawsuit because Montefiore has rejected the Union’s repeated efforts to work with the Hospital to lessen the risks posed by COVID-19 so that more New Yorkers will not die needlessly—be they the Montefiore nurses themselves, the patients they care for, the doctors and other medical personnel with whom they work, the families they come home to, or the people whose paths they cross at the grocery store, the pharmacy, and on public transportation while traveling to and from work,” the nurses lawsuit argues.
Instead of implementing policies that would keep nurses, as well as their patients and the public, safe, Montefiore has created a number of severe workplace hazards that are causing the RNs serious physical harm, and possible death, NYSNA states.
The plaintiff is represented by Susan Davis and Joseph J. Vitale of Cohen Wiess and Simon LLP.
The Nurses COVID-19 Lawsuit is The New York State Nurses Association v. Montefiore Medical Center, Case No. 1:20-cv-03122-JMF, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Join a Free Coronavirus Class Action Lawsuit Investigation
If you believe your rights were violated in a way that is directly related to the coronavirus pandemic, you may qualify to join this coronavirus class action lawsuit investigation.
ATTORNEY ADVERTISING
Top Class Actions is a Proud Member of the American Bar Association
LEGAL INFORMATION IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE
Top Class Actions Legal Statement
©2008 – 2024 Top Class Actions® LLC
Various Trademarks held by their respective owners
This website is not intended for viewing or usage by European Union citizens.
