REPORT: June 2006

LICH RNs win back lost annuity fund contributions

by Rolando Tomas Infante

In 2003, registered nurses at Long Island College Hospital (LICH) began noticing something was wrong. Management wasn’t making the required monthly contributions to their annuity fund.

They contacted their NYSNA representatives, who found that many of the contributions were up to 16 months late. This, in turn, was causing a loss of interest in their accounts.

“We had multiple labor-management meetings in which both the hospital and its parent organization, Continuum Health Partners, admitted that they couldn’t guarantee that data they provided was correct,” said Julie Semente, corresponding secretary of the bargaining unit’s executive committee. “However, they wouldn’t allow for a full audit.”

Studying hospital financial data, the committee and NYSNA Nursing Representative Christina Terranova found discrepancies in the nurses’ listed salaries. Since the contributions were to be calculated based on a percentage of the total salary, inaccurate salary amounts translated into inaccurate contribution numbers.

“The executive committee, armed with calculators, went through the collection of data from both the hospital and the RNs – who submitted documentation of account statements,” Semente said. “But it was overwhelming, trying to figure out the salaries and contribution amounts for each of the 500 nurses. We couldn’t make heads or tails out of the data provided.”

NYSNA filed a grievance, which was brought to an arbitration hearing on June 7, 2005. Citing a discrepancy between LICH’s denial of its obligation and Section 9.02 of the 2002-2003 contract that clearly specifies that the employer ‘set aside in monthly installments’ the contribution for each employee, the arbitrator ruled that the employer violated the contract by “failing to make contributions in a timely fashion.” Moreover, the arbitrator ruled that in the “remaining question [of] whether [LICH] also violated the contract by contributing incorrect amounts,” the employer “neglected to audit the retirement accounts as soon as it became aware of systematic errors, leaving the adequacy of its payments shrouded in doubt.”

The arbitrator’s remedy was to have LICH pay for a professional independent auditor chosen by the arbitrator and pay back the nurses’ missing contributions from 2003. It was also to include the lost interest that would have been accrued had the contributions been made in a timely manner and in the correct amount.

“NYSNA persisted and made an excellent case for us at each arbitration session,” said Semente. “Much appreciation goes first to the membership that persevered in this lengthy process and contributed their account statements when needed. Their efforts aided the executive committee members who invested their time and energy in collecting this pertinent data and attended many meetings and arbitration sessions to attain this victory.”

“We have had significant wins in the past but nothing comparable to this,” Terranova said. “As the arbitrator said, in this era of sudden corporate bankruptcy and collapsing benefit programs, employees have a valid interest in ensuring that retirement accounts are properly funded at all times. NYSNA and the membership are fortunate that we have one of the strongest and most committed bargaining units in the association that attacked this issue relentlessly for the past three years.”