Remember the hospital worker’s lawsuit
about her meth-snorting supervisor at a Kaiser hospital in California?
In July, the worker sued Kaiser Permanente for illegally
terminating her after she complained to H.R. that her supervisor was snorting
crystal meth while running the hospital’s Admitting Department. She also sued SEIU-UHW
for failing to defend her against Kaiser’s illegal firing (this is called a breach
of SEIU-UHW’s “duty of fair representation” or “a DFR.”)
Soon after the worker filed her lawsuit, Kaiser and SEIU-UHW
teamed up to try to kill the suit. But just two days ago, the worker won an
important victory when a federal judge delivered a legal smackdown to Kaiser
and SEIU-UHW. The smackdown came in the form of a 17-page decision that rejects
Kaiser/SEIU’s efforts to toss the lawsuit.
Tasty has posted the full decision below. Also, here’s a
news story about the judge’s action: “Fired Kaiser Worker
Can Pursue Retaliation Case.”
The ruling offers another interesting glimpse at SEIU-UHW’s horrific, ongoing failure
to support and defend its members. Tasty has received countless emails from
Kaiser workers who’ve been unjustly terminated because Dave Regan’s SEIU-UHW has simply refused to help them.
According to the judge’s ruling, the worker who filed the suit had a
spotless employment record during her 10 years on the job. After she was
unjustly disciplined by Kaiser, SEIU-UHW prohibited her from speaking at
grievance meetings, failed to inform her about scheduled grievance meetings,
and failed to request any records from management so she could defend herself
against Kaiser’s false accusations. SEIU-UHW even twisted her arm to try to get
her to withdraw her grievance.
And then... SEIU-UHW officials simply dropped her case. Here’s
an excerpt from the judge’s ruling:
On January 12, 2012, a union representative informed Plaintiff ‘that her case had no merit,’ and that UHW was withdrawing the grievance. The representative offered no further explanation of why the UHW had concluded her grievance was without merit. (p. 6)
According to the worker, SEIU-UHW and Kaiser were actively
in cahoots with each other:
Plaintiff alleges that both Kaiser and the UHW were aware of Ms. Taylor’s drug problems, and knew that Plaintiff’s complaints about Ms. Taylor spurred retaliation that led to her termination. (p. 6)
Here’s another excerpt describing the worker’s charges
against SEIU:
Plaintiff has alleged… that the UHW's investigation of her grievance was merely perfunctory, indeed virtually nonexistent, and that its action evinced a 'reckless disregard' of Plaintiff's rights. (p. 14)
So what’s next? The judge has ordered SEIU-UHW, Kaiser and
the worker to appear at a case-management conference in federal court on
December 14. Court records indicate that SEIU-UHW is being represented by two
of its hack attorneys: Bruce Harland
and Yuri Gottesman of Weinberg,
Roger and Rosenfeld.
Congrats to the
Kaiser worker for taking on Kaiser and SEIU-UHW... and for winning
her first, important victory in the legal battle!
Here’s a full copy of the judge’s 17-page ruling:
Federal Judge's Order Denying SEIU-UHW's Motion to Dismiss Lawsuit for Failing to Assist Union Member at Ka...
Federal Judge's Order Denying SEIU-UHW's Motion to Dismiss Lawsuit for Failing to Assist Union Member at Ka...
