October 2022 Newsletter

Content:

• Paychecks on Friday, October 21, 2022
• ADOS lead to complaints filed with the DOH & TJC
• Broad based bonus awards
• Contract Corner
• Grievance Gallery
• Did you contract COVID at work?
• Committees

Paychecks on Friday, October 21, 2022

WSNA has heard from many nurses with concerns regarding this Friday’s paychecks. We reviewed the communications and FAQs management sent out to all staff. We also spoke with Marie LaMarche, Division Director, Employee & Labor Relations VMFH. She confirmed employees will be paid their full FTE at their base rate of pay, plus any premiums or overtime payments received on their October 7th paycheck. For example if you are a 1.0 FTE you will receive 80 hours at your base rate of pay plus the premiums or overtime you received on your October 7, 2022 paycheck. Per diems will be paid based on their pay period average of what they earned between January and September 2022.

Marie was unable to provide a date when the Kronos system will be restored. In the meantime please keep track of all hours and all premiums due. WSNA will continue to monitor this situation closely.

ADOs lead to complaints filed with the DOH and TJC

CommonSpirit IT security incident

Many nurses began filing ADOs after the hospital started operating in downtime mode. When ADOs are filed they automatically go to WSNA, the manager listed on the ADO, and both Co-chairs of the Staffing Committee. WSNA reads every ADO that is filed and was alarmed by what we were reading, especially the nurses that wrote great detail about what was happening. Knowing that the ADOs go to management and nurses were reporting to their managers so many problems our expectations was that we would see working conditions improve.

After a week had passed and little was happening to improve working conditions, we sent about 40 ADOs to the CNO and HR to be sure upper leadership knew what was occurring on the units, and also to provide them the opportunity to correct what was going on. Unfortunately, more days passed and the ADOs just kept coming with more stories of the chaotic working conditions that were not improving.

Although we had hoped leadership would bring calm and order it was apparent that was not going to happen. That is when WSNA filed complaints with The Department of Health (DOH) and The Joint Commission. The information that was provided in many of the ADOs provided great details to cite in the complaints and painted a picture of what was and is happening inside the walls of the hospital.

Thank you to every nurse that filed ADOs, and an extra special thank you to the nurses that took the time to provide vivid details. It is because of these ADOs WSNA could understand in great detail what was happening and had the evidence we needed to file the complaints. Please keep this in mind. The more detail the better, especially if there is any kind of patient harm.

Oozing mattresses with micro tears

One day in September a nurse in the FBC noticed pink tinged fluid on the side of a chuck that was facing the mattress. She looked at the mattress where the chuck had been and saw micro tears. Still curious she pressed down on that area and pink tinged fluid came up through the micro tears. The nurse reported the issue with the belief it would be taken care of. She had about a week off of work and much to her surprise when she came back, she discovered nothing had been done and in fact found another mattress doing the same. The nurse filed two ADOs, one for the mattress she discovered the previous week and another for the one she found after her return.

When WSNA read these ADOs we forwarded them to the CNO and HR demanding they do something immediately to rectify this issue. Management did seemingly jump into action. HR reported they had ordered new mattresses but unfortunately it would take 6-8 weeks for them to be delivered. However, in the meanwhile they were covering all of the micro tears with a patching material. They patched most of the beds but ran out of patching material so they put in an expedited order and the beds would all be patched by the end of the week.

When the same nurse returned to work about a week later the beds that had not had the micro tears covered with patching material were still not patched. Another ADO was filed reporting at least one bed still in use and a couple of others available if needed with microtears, unpatched, and oozing. WSNA contacted the CNO to express our shock and dismay, which was met with flippant responses. WSNA subsequently filed a complaint with the DOH and an information request with SJMC. A few of the nurses on that unit filed complaints with the DOH too.

Thank you to this nurse for reporting the issue to management and filing the ADOs. It is this kind of advocacy that makes a difference. WSNA may never had known this was going on if the nurse did not take the time to file the ADOs and describe the details of the issue so that we could understand the magnitude of the issue. She painted a picture that was disgusting, repulsive, and absolutely unacceptable.

Beware and watch out for compromised beds and gurneys. If you find any report them to your manager, file an IRIS, ADO, and if it doesn’t get resolved consider filing a complaint with the DOH.

Link to file an ADO: https://www.wsna.org/union/ado

Link to file a complaint with the DOH: https://www.doh.wa.gov/LicensesPermitsandCertificates/FileComplaintAboutProviderorFacility/FacilityComplaintProcess#heading25859

Our contract provides you the right to take a nurse with you to any ADO follow-up meeting.

When a clinical manager or other supervisor discusses a staffing complaint form (such as an ADO or similar form) with the nurse who made the report, the nurse may arrange to bring another nurse from their department with them to this discussion, which will be held during both nurses’ working time. The clinical manager’s response to the staffing complaint form will be provided to the Staffing Committee. Neither the complaint form nor any response from the manager/supervisor will be placed in the nurse’s personnel file.

No Retaliation! Our WSNA contract and the law both prohibit retaliation against nurses for filing a staffing complaint/ADO. If you experience retaliation notify one of our WSNA Local Unit Officers or Nurse Rep immediately.

Personal Liability Insurance – If ever there was a time for this it is now!

All practicing registered nurses should carry their own professional liability insurance and WSNA has selected Nurses Service Organization (NSO) as the program best suited for its members. This plan is designed to meet the unique needs of today’s nursing professionals and students of nursing as well as Home Health Care & Staffing Agencies.

Broad based bonus awards

CommonSpirit has proposed paying Broad based bonus awards again this year with the same conditions we have objected to in previous years . We have asked for dates to bargain but the employer has not offered any yet. We are hoping to hear from them soon so we can hopefully bargain an agreement that is fair for all parties. The amounts they are proposing to pay this year is $400 and $300 depending on how many hours you worked between July 31, 2021 and June 30, 2022. That is pretax.

We have also heard some confusion about last year and nurses thinking they never got last years bonus. It did get paid. It was included in the bonus monies paid at our contract negotiations.

Contract Corner

Welcome to Contract Corner! Our goal is to get you acquainted with your RN ‘Contract’ (otherwise known as your Employment Agreement or Collective Bargaining Agreement). This is the Contract between the Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA) and St Joseph Medical Center (SJMC). It is specific to the Registered Nurses at SJMC and filled with important Articles that define or relate to: your working conditions, your protections, the grievance process and more.

8.10 Scheduled Days Off. Full-time nurses who work on their scheduled day off shall be paid at the rate of one and one-half (1-1/2) times their regular rate of pay provided the nurse works her/his assigned FTE hours during the work week. Low Census hours will be considered as assigned FTE hours for purposes of this Article 8.10. Nurses shall not be expected to be on standby or to be called back on their days off except in an emergency or by mutual agreement. This section shall not apply to non-mandatory training, education or to other meetings where attendance is not required.

Many nurses were not aware you cannot be mandated to be on standby for a shift that is their scheduled day off, except in emergency situations.

Link to WSNA contract: https://wsna.to/SJMCcontract

Grievance Gallery

While we always try to resolve issues outside of the grievance process there are times we are unable to do so and subsequently file grievances. We have several grievances filed that are going through the grievance process for individual nurses. Out of respect for their privacy we will not disclose those grievances.

• FBC & NICU – Donning & Doffing
  We have a grievance filed that we are holding in abeyance at this time providing the employer the opportunity to do the right thing and pay both retroactive and going forward for the time nurses don & doff the hospital provided scrubs they are required to wear. This time is worked time.
• Parking Safety
  WSNA filed an Association grievance regarding the unsafe parking areas and vehicle break ins January 20, 2022. This is another issue that was brought to our attention by nurses filing ADOs. We had our Step 3 meeting and are waiting for management’s response.
• ESI & WA Sick Law
  WSNA filed a grievance on behalf of a nurse that worked an extra shift, submitted for ESI pay and was denied because she called out sick. WSNA believes the WA Sick Law supersedes the MOU and it would be violating that law to withhold the incentive when she called out sick and used earned time to cover those hours.
• COVID Exposure:
  • A nurse that worked in the ED and contracted COVID. The employer is denying it was a workplace exposure and refusing to pay the nurse for her time off with COVID. WSNA believes it was a workplace exposure and the nurse should be compensated for the time she was off with COVID.
  • An ICU CN that also responds to codes. The employer is denying it was a workplace exposure and refusing to pay the nurse for her time off with COVID. WSNA believes it was a workplace exposure and the nurse should be compensated for the time she was off with COVID.
  • A nurse that was paid for her time off due to her workplace exposure but the employer refuses to pay for the time the nurse was subsequently quarantined due to her child having COVID that they contracted from the nurse. WSNA believes the employer should pay for the time of quarantine since the child would not have contracted COVID if her mother did not have a workplace exposure.
  • 7^th Floor quarantine. A patient exposed the staff to COVID. The unit was closed to admits and the nurses on that unit were prohibited from floating to other units. Subsequently, mandatory cuts occurred, and the nurses had to use their own earned time or go without pay. WSNA believes the employer should compensate the nurses for the time they lost due to the workplace exposure.

Did you contract COVID-19 at work? File for workers’ compensation now & retroactively.

If you were out sick with a COVID-19 infec­tion that you believe was contracted at work, we encourage you to file a workers’ compen­sa­tion claim . You have two years from the date of the work-related illness to file a claim.
For healthcare workers once a claim is allowed, workers are eligible for medical and disability benefits. Temporary compensation, or time-loss benefits, begins the earliest of the following:

• The first missed work day due to symptoms
• The day the worker was quarantined by a medical provider or public health official
• The day the worker received a positive test result confirming contraction of the infectious or contagious disease.

You can also receive retroactive time-loss back pay, which is especially valuable to nurses who exhausted their paid time off prior to acquiring COVID-19 and were told they had to take unpaid leave.

Even if you were only out of work for a few days, applying for workers’ compen­sa­tion now will give you future coverage, including medical, for any long-hauler or long-term side effects of COVID-19. Once it is deemed a work-related illness and your workers’ compen­sa­tion claim is approved, L&I covers the medical care for life.

VMFHS is self-insured.

To file a workers’ compensation claim at St Joes you need to file a SIF-2, which can be found on the hospital intranet. If you are not at the hospital and cannot access a hospital computer, you can also file through the L&I FileFast .

• If you disagree with how your self-insured claim is being managed, contact L&I at 360-902-6901.
• The Ombudsman for Self-Insured Injured Workers is available to help with self-insured workers' compensation issues. SIOmbuds@Lni.wa.gov.

Committees in our WSNA contract

Conference Committee

Conference committee is the place guaranteed by our contract to facilitate communication between management and nursing staff and discuss matters that affect nurses’ working conditions. Our WSNA Local Unit Officers meet with management every other month on the third Wednesday of the even month. Staffing and ADOs are a standing agenda items at every meeting. Other agenda items may include an issue we are trying to resolve collaboratively without filing a grievance or may be something there is no specific contract language about but still needs to be addressed. If you have ideas, thoughts, or concerns, please make sure you contact one of our Local Unit Reps or Local Unit Officers so the matter can be addressed.

August Agenda - Minutes are taken at every meeting and posted on our WSNA bulletin boards.

ADOs
Current numbers
Nurse may decline to meet with manager
Responses: Respectable and meaningful
ER Safety
Triage egress
Security presence
Weapons
FBC
Traveler floating
Short term/long term construction
Colored placards/team work result
Weekend Anesthesia coverage
Per Diem requests denied
Med-Surg
Winter holiday staffing/manager coverage
Appropriate staffing signage
PPE N95 usage communication house wide
Visitor policy communication
New business
Personal days

Parking and Facility Safety Committee:

This committee will review potential solutions to parking and facility safety issues, including but not limited to maintaining the skybridge as a 24/7 badge entrance, the adequacy of parking escort services and regular security patrols in parking lots/areas especially in hours of darkness, and weapons screening at the Emergency Department entrances.

We do not have an update from the last meeting due to the fact our members were not able to attend.

We are pleased to announce Oliya Petrova agreed to join our team. Oliya works day shift in the ED.

If you have parking and facility safety questions and/or concerns, please contact one of the committee members.

WSNA Members: Matthew McGuire, Oliya Petrova, Tina Masuda

Racial Justice Taskforce:

The purpose of the Taskforce will be to develop a sustainable infrastructure at the Hospital that addresses and provides solutions and assistance to address myriad racial issues and promote racial justice at, around, and affecting the St. Joseph’s community, patients, and surrounding areas.

The committee is still in the beginning stages so does not have a lot to report out at this time. However, we would like to announce our newest WSNA member to join the team, Agnes Balangue-Herron. Agnes works day shift on the 9^th Floor.

WSNA Members: Agnes Balangue-Herron, Emily D’Anna; Thalia Cruz, Yunna Flenord

Staffing Committee

You can find Safe Staffing Committee information and documents (ie Staffing Plans, Meeting Minutes, Charters, Bylaws, Member Roster, Unit Report Out Schedules, ADO Algorithm) on the CommonSpirit Intranet (Nursing Portal), on the WSNA.org Local Unit website, and in the Local Unit Newsletter.

The Staffing Committee meeting this month was cancelled by management.

We would like to welcome out newest member to join the WSNA team, Amanda Walser. Amanda works day shift in the OR.

If you have any questions, or concerns, please reach out to your NSC Members.

WSNA Members: Shelly Mead, Sally Budack, Amanda Chang, Kaitlin Frazier, Yunna Flenord, Matthew McGuire, Emily D’Anna, Amanda Walser

Our WSNA Local Unit Website

We have our own Local Unit WSNA website! If you need to see our contract, past communications, or get in touch with a Unit Rep, Local Unit Officer, or Nurse Rep check out our page at https://www.wsna.org/union/st-joseph-medical-center.

WSNA Local Unit Officers

We are excited to announce our newest member to join the WSNA Local Unit Officer team. Dakota Eckman. Dakota works day shift on the 9^th Floor. He has been appointee to the WSNA Co-membership position.

If you have questions or concerns, please contact one of our WSNA Unit Reps, Local Unit Officers, or Nurse Rep Barbara Friesen at bfriesen@wsna.org or 206-575-7979 ext. 3056.