News

By Jay Domingo

ATLANTA, Georgia – A group of Filipino immigrant nurses filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against their former employers, TGS Healthcare Solutions, a health care staffing agency; Compleat Rehab & Sports Therapy Center, Kare Partners; and their related entities. The nurses are represented by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), Murphy Anderson PLLC, and the Law Office of Magen E. Kellam.

TGS required the nurses to sign coercive “stay-or-pay” provisions that punished them with tens of thousands of dollars in fees if they left their jobs before the end of the contract term. The nurses faced dangerously high workloads and exploitative working conditions.

“Employers like TGS use stay-or-pay clauses to exploit their workers’ lack of familiarity with working conditions in the United States, either trapping them into difficult—and dangerous—employment situations, or forcing them into financial hardship,” says Meghan Koushik, an attorney with AALDEF. “We are heartened that the NLRB’s General Counsel has recently issued guidance that such practices are unlawful.”

According to AALDEF, the NLRB staff will now investigate the charges and issue a complaint if it finds merit under the NLRB General Counsel’s enforcement initiative.

The nurses allege the companies misled them into believing they would be directly employed by Compleat, a sports rehabilitation facility. Instead, upon arrival in the U.S., the nurses realized they were hired by TGS, a third-party staffing agency, and would be contracted out to different clients. During their employment with TGS and its clients, the nurses endured unsafe working conditions, including high patient caseloads, understaffing, and pressure to under-report their hours. When the nurses left their jobs due to these conditions, TGS issued demand letters claiming they had breached their employment contracts. In the letters, TGS ordered the nurses to pay tens of thousands of dollars to avoid further legal action. TGS also initiated a lawsuit against at least one nurse.

“When TGS told me I owed them $80,000, I wanted to end my life,” says Gebessa A., one of the nurses in the case. “I was so afraid and felt like I just had to give in. They berated me, threatened my green card, and told me this was all my fault.”

Over the past year, AALDEF has represented more than 30 Filipino immigrant nurses working in healthcare facilities in states nationwide, including Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. They have worked for companies with locations in multiple states and were recruited by staffing agencies that misled them about the training they would receive, the working conditions, or the kind of facility they would be working in. The widespread use of stay-or-pay provisions trapped them into staying at bad jobs under threat of severe financial penalties.

“One thing I want to share with other immigrant nurses facing a similar situation is, I know you’re afraid. But you have rights as an employee. None of this is okay or normal,” adds Gebessa. “We need to put this out there so they know they can get help. They can fight back against their employer.”

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Read the article here: https://www.philippinedailymirror.com/filipino-nurses-file-unfair-labor-practice-against-staffing-company-and-rehab-center/