Saint Vincent request could suspend striking nurses' unemployment benefits

photo/grant welker Signs supporting the striking Saint Vincent Hospital union nurses dot yards throughout Worcester during the 301-day strike that ended in January.

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By Katherine Hamilton

The members of the Massachusetts Nurses Association union who have been striking at Saint Vincent Hospital since March will lose their unemployment benefits, at least temporarily, with the hospital requesting a reconsideration of benefits that could require the workers to repay all payments received since Aug. 2.

In an internal memo circulated on Thursday, Saint Vincent Hospital CEO Carolyn Jackson announced unemployment benefits for striking union nurses will be suspended for an indefinite period of time, after the hospital submitted a request to the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance for reconsideration of the benefits.

The Worcester hospital submitted a formal request to the DUA to reconsider unemployment benefits for striking nurses after 100 beds were closed due to staffing shortages on Aug. 2.

When a strike causes a stoppage of services, workers can be disqualified for unemployment benefits, according to the MNA website.

Since the strike allegedly caused the bed closures, unemployment benefits could be rescinded retroactively to Aug. 2, meaning nurses would have to pay back benefits received since that date if the DUA rules in favor of the reconsideration request, Jackson said in a phone interview.

On Wednesday, the DUA notified Saint Vincent the request flagged problems that were sufficient to warrant placing of eligibility issues on the striking nurses’ claims for unemployment benefits, Jackson wrote, while DUA weighs the hospital's request.

If the DUA ends up ruling in the nurses' favor, the unemployment benefits would be reinstated and Saint Vincent would have to pay the benefits retroactive to the suspension date. If DUA rules in the hospital's favor, the benefits will stop permanently, and the nurses will have to pay back benefits received since Aug. 2.

Saint Vincent has hired at least 140 new nurses to replace those who are still taking part in Massachusetts’ longest nurses strike ever, which began March 8 over nurse-to-patient staffing ratios. The two sides have inched closer to a deal to end the strike in the last few weeks, with sides agreeing on language regarding the staffing ratios. The main sticking point between the two sides at the moment is whether Saint Vincent will hire the striking nurses back into their original positions, which the hospital said it won't do.

"[The] decision in no way indicates that there will be any change in eligibility," said MNA spokesman David Shildmeier in a statement. "MNA attorneys will participate fully in this DUA review and MNA remains confident of a favorable outcome when the process is completed."