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April 10, 2002
Governor signs 'whistle-blower' law
Union wins health care worker, patient protections
See also: NYSUT Division of Legislation
See also: Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals
See also: NYSUT Health and Safety Resource Center
Union leaders hailed a new law that will protect health care workers who blow the whistle on unsafe conditions for patients.
"This is a tremendous victory for health care workers, as well as every New Yorker who needs health care," said New York State United Teachers Executive Vice President Alan Lubin. "This new law will save patients' lives."
In signing the measure April 2, Gov. George Pataki thanked NYSUT and other members of the union coalition "who worked so closely with me to make this new law a reality."
Pataki vetoed a different version of the bill last year. Since then, NYSUT and its health care arm, the Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, has worked with the gubernatorial and legislative staff to find common ground and improve the measure.
Lubin noted NYSUT successfully pushed for expansion of the legislation to include workers who deliver health care services at public and private schools, and colleges.
The bill prohibits employers from retaliating against health care workers who advocate for patient care by reporting cases of unsafe conditions or institutional wrongdoing.
"Cutting costs can mean cutting corners," Lubin said. "And cutting corners in health care can result in allowing unlicensed staff to perform some nursing duties and assigning unsafe workloads to health care staff. Nurses should be able to speak out against these dangerous practices without fear of being fired."
"This is a long time coming and will help give nurses the courage to stand up for what they know is right," said Dorothea Meinecke, a nurse at Lutheran Hospital in Brooklyn who chairs NYSUT's Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals Advisory Committee. "Fighting for the rights of our patients should not leave us fighting for our jobs."
Meinecke noted she is in the middle of handling a grievance for a nurse who was disciplined after she "took that extra step to do the right thing" on behalf of a patient.
The new law, which takes effect immediately, gives workers two years to institute a civil action against an employer. An employer found guilty of bad-faith retaliatory action would face a penalty up to $10,000. Any fines would go into a new state fund dedicated to improving the quality of patient care.
The legislation requires that the protection against retaliatory action shall not apply unless the employee has brought the improper quality of patient care to the attention of a supervisor and has given the employer a reasonable opportunity to correct such action. Some examples of "improper quality of care" cited by the governor's office include: surgery on the wrong body part; medication errors; patient falls; and the assignment of unqualified or unlicensed health personnel that would pose significant threats to patient health.
Lubin thanked Sen. Nicholas Spano, R-Yonkers, and Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan, D-Queens, for their six-year effort to push through the whistle-blower bill.
- Sylvia Saunders
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