In a class action lawsuit against six hospitals in the Detroit area, RNs are alleging that the hospitals have unlawfully conspired to keep their wages at artificially low levels. The lawsuits were filed in federal court against Bon Secours Cottage Health Services, Detroit Medical Center, Henry Ford Health System, McLaren Health Care Corp., Oakwood Healthcare Inc., and St. John Health Partners. A statement by the plaintiffs’ lawyers, Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, P.L.L.C., and James & Hoffman, PC, claims that the hospitals “have deliberately, secretly, and systematically exchanged detailed, non-public, current information about the wages each is paying its nurses.” As a result of this information exchange, the hospitals have suppressed nurses wages, thereby contributing to the nursing shortage. According to the law firms’ preliminary estimates, nurses in Detroit on average each have been underpaid approximately $5,000 per year.
The lawsuit is asking for $340 million for 16,800 full-time RNs, reports The Detroit Free Press. The Detroit Medical Center said RNs received a 6% raise this year, while management and other staff received 2% increases. "And they will get double the raises the rest do next year," Mike Duggan, chief executive officer of the DMC, told the Free Press. "This is the last group I thought would say their wages were held down." The other defendants either would not comment or had no immediate response to the lawsuit.
The law firms also filed litigation earlier this year in Albany, Chicago, Memphis and San Antonio, alleging conspiracies among hospitals in those areas to depress nurse pay.
