NYC Health+Hospitals Nurses Fight Back Against Punitive Sick Leave Change
Earlier this winter, hospital administrators began interpreting NYC Health+Hospitals’ (H+H) longstanding sick leave policy differently—in effect, reducing nurses’ sick leave and pressuring them to work sick.
On March 18, NYSNA nurses from throughout the H+H system turned out in force at the H+H annual meeting at Gouverneur to make their voices heard. They shared stories of colleagues working sick because they were worried about running out of sick leave or being disciplined for using their time.
NYSNA Director at Large, NYC H+H/Mayorals Executive Council President, and Lincoln nurse, Sonia Lawrence, RN, BSN, CCRN, explained to the H+H Manhattan board: “This winter, when I’ve walked the floors of my hospital and talked to nurses in the PACU, in med-surg, in nearly every unit, I’ve talked to nurses who are working sick. They are coughing and sneezing, but they’re at work caring for patients—sometimes the most vulnerable patients. They are there because they don’t want to be counseled for using the sick time they’ve earned.
Other speakers also reminded the board and H+H CEO Dr. Katz that if RNs work sick, our patients can get sick, our colleagues can get sick, and that's not good for the public health. Several members from H+H/Kings County Hospital stepped to the mic. Krystal John, RN, a former ICU nurse, emphasized the burnout that many nurses feel since the COVID-19 pandemic began five years ago and how now nurses are being made to feel that taking time to heal is a burden to the system. She emphasized, “Sick nurses can’t heal patients.” Medical ICU nurse Joseph Cole, RN, described nurses being called up and pressured to come to work even though they were ordered on bed rest. Kings nurse Deserie Peters, RN, reminded the board that, “Nurses deserve sick time, and our patients deserve to feel safe.” Kings emergency department nurse Hannah Ehrlingspiel, RN, asked the board, “Do you get called into counseling if you get sick more than one day every sick months? We are going to stay NYSNA strong and end this fight!”
NYSNA First Vice President and Woodhull nurse Judith Cutchin, DNP, RN, relayed that she recently dealt with a member being counseled even though they had a sick note from their H+H doctor not to come to work until their highly contagious infection subsided. She asked the board, “How are you going to recruit and retain new nurses when you tell them that H+H is a great place to work—just don’t get sick?!”
NYSNA Southern Regional Director, H+H/Mayorals Executive Council Vice President, and H+H/Harlem nurse, Alizia McMyers, MSN, MHA, BSN, RN, emphasized that since she began working at H+H in 1992, administrators always counted three contiguous sick days as one occurrence for all H+H staff. She demanded a return to past practice, so nurses and hospital leaders could focus on the existential issues that we face as a health system, like the looming federal cuts to Medicaid.
CEO Dr. Katz promised meeting attendees a written response next week, and now public hospital nurses are keeping up the pressure and waiting to hear if H+H will do the right thing to maintain a healthy workplace for nurses, our patients, and the public.
Watch the full livestream of the meeting with more than a dozen NYSNA members testifying on YouTube.