Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Major Detroit Area Hospitals For Conspiracy to Depress Nurse Wages Detroit, MI. (December 19, 2006) Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, P.L.L.C., and James & Hoffman, PC have filed a class action lawsuit against six major hospitals in the Detroit area, alleging that these hospitals have unlawfully conspired to keep their nurses’ 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. (d/b/a Mount Clemens Regional Medical Center), Oakwood Healthcare Inc., and St. John Health Partners. The lawsuit invokes the federal antitrust laws to force the hospitals to pay their nurses compensation that is long overdue. These hospitals have been putting their bottom line ahead of patients and the nurses who care for them. For years, these hospitals have deliberately, secretly and systematically exchanged detailed, non-public, current information about the wages each is paying its nurses. The purpose and effect of this information exchange has been to permit the hospitals to suppress nurse wages – depriving nurses of a fair wage and contributing to the nursing shortage in our nation. The lawsuit is based on several interviews with insiders with direct knowledge of the conspiracies. The litigation follows on the heels of cases filed in June in Albany, Chicago, Memphis and San Antonio, which similarly allege conspiracies among hospitals in those areas to depress nurse pay. The conspiring hospitals have been taking extreme advantage of a vulnerable but critical component of the American healthcare system. In the aggregate, these hospitals have underpaid nurses in the Detroit area hundreds of millions of dollars. According to preliminary estimates, nurses in Detroit on average each have been underpaid approximately $5,000 per year. "Nurses working in hospitals provide essential care to patients often under difficult conditions," said Daniel A. Small, a partner at Cohen Milstein who is representing the plaintiffs. "To deny nurses a fair wage is wrong; to underpay them because of a secret agreement is intolerable. Through this lawsuit, we intend to recover the wages nurses in Detroit earned through their hard work, but were never paid because of the conspiracy." Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, P.L.L.C (Washington, D.C.) has represented individuals, small businesses, institutional investors, and employees in many of the major class action cases litigated in the U.S. for violations of antitrust, securities, environmental, consumer protection, civil rights/discrimination, ERISA and human rights laws. James & Hoffman is a Washington, D.C. based law firm with a nationwide litigation practice and a special focus on effective resolution of labor and employment disputes. Copies of the complaint and related materials are available at www.cmht.com. Media Inquiries: Deborah Schwartz, Media Relations, Inc., 301-897-8838/240 355-8838 |
