Nurses at Fort Kent hospital win back thousands of dollars tied to labor disputes
PHOTO / COURTESY
NMMC nurses celebrated the Maine Dept. of Labor's ruling in their favor.
Northern Maine Medical Center in Fort Kent has been cited by the Maine Department of Labor for 77 regulatory violations that are affecting nursing staff, according to a release from the nurses union.
Misclassifying nurses as subcontractors, failing to pay nurses overtime and to pay nurses their wages in a timely manner, and requiring nurses to sign contracts that exempted medical from Maine’s labor laws are among the violations.
Regulators recently reached a settlement agreement with the hospital that requires fees to be paid in the amounts of $15,706 directly to three nurses for wages and liquidated damages, and $8,750 in fines to the state.
The department will be monitoring the hospital for compliance for two years, with the possibility of $84,050 in additional penalties for noncompliance with settlement terms. The DOL will also be retraining management on Maine Labor Laws and putting an end to the RN Flexibility Solutions program.
Nurses at the hospital have since January 2024 been represented by the Maine State Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee. “Violations like these are why NMMC nurses unionized,” said Brad Martinez, a registered nurse in the emergency department. “NMMC played by its own set of rules, until nurses unionized and exercised our power to hold them accountable.”
Nurses at Northern Maine Medical Center are negotiating their first contract after unionizing.
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