A Federal Appeals Court Has Ruled in Favor of a Fired Hospital Employee
A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of an Ellsworth hospital employee who was fired for writing a letter to a weekly newspaper about a labor dispute at the hospital.
In its decision issued Wednesday, the federal First Circuit appeals court upheld a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board that the Ellsworth hospital, now known as Northern Light Health Maine Coast Hospital, violated federal labor laws when it fired Karen Jo Young for writing a letter to the editor at the Ellsworth American in support of nurses and physicians at the hospital.
Young’s letter criticized hospital leadership after, in the wake of being acquired by Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems (now known as Northern Light Health), it “canceled the contracts of most physicians at the hospital” and nurses grew concerned about understaffing among their ranks, according to the court decision.
