A major health system, ThedaCare, argued in court that its workers were so essential they couldn’t leave.
A non-profit mega hospital chain in Wisconsin filed a lawsuit to stop 7 of their workers from quitting and taking on better jobs at a rival.
They were not under a contract.
They were under our wonderful “at will employment” rules that are in almost every US state, allowing a worker to be terminated without cause at any time, rules enacted by Reagan-loving Republicans to cripple unions in the 80s and after.
In other words, they made the natural free market choice! And their employer sued to stop them, and did for a time until a temporary injunction was lifted.
All because the hospital continued to underpay and undervalue their work.
It is a true measure of the hellscape we are in, where healthcare, education, and other workers are considered essential and heroes, but unworthy of the compensation and protections to reflect the harsh conditions they work in. To be praised initially and then denigrated when they complain against the conditions or attacked by members of the public leaving work or school board meetings; to be, in this case, literally held against their will.
That same non-profit, that operates seven hospitals and earns over $100 million in revenue annually, including $45 in government coronavirus relief, is now spending money on attorneys instead of paying their workers.
ThedaCare lawyers asked the court last week to temporarily stop seven of its employees from taking new jobs at a nearby hospital.
So, Wisconsin is a “right to work” state.
7/10 employees in one hospital department left for better pay and time off at another hospital. They offered their current employer a chance to counter. They refused.
Instead, they sued the other hospital for violating fair trade practices. There were no “non-compete” clauses in the employees contracts.
Health care staffing strains played out in the courtroom Friday morning.
APPLETON - It was unclear whether a group of former ThedaCare employees would be allowed to start their new jobs at Ascension Northeast Wisconsin Monday after lawyers for both health systems made their first appearance in court Friday morning.
The uncertainty is the latest development in a battle over health care employees that began late Thursday and is now playing out in court. It comes as staff shortages strain health systems nationwide — nearly one in five health care workers have quit their jobs since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
ThedaCare requested Thursday that an Outagamie County judge temporarily block seven of its employees who had applied for and accepted jobs at Ascension from beginning work there on Monday until the health system could find replacements for them.
The employees were part of an 11-member interventional radiology and cardiovascular team, which can perform procedures to stop bleeding in targeted areas during a traumatic injury or restore blood flow to the brain in the case of a stroke. Each of them were employed at-will, meaning they were not under an obligation to stay at ThedaCare for a certain amount of time.
Outagamie County Circuit Court Judge Mark McGinnis granted ThedaCare's request and held an initial hearing Friday morning. The case will get a longer hearing at 10 a.m. Monday.
McGinnis told lawyers for both health systems they should try to work out a temporary agreement by the end of the day Friday about the employees' status until Monday's hearing.
Otherwise, he said, the order prohibiting them from going to work at Ascension would be final until a further ruling was made. That means the seven health care workers would not be working at either hospital on Monday.
[snip]
A Thursday statement from Ascension said the employees were not recruited but instead decided to apply for open job postings. It was Ascension's understanding that ThedaCare had the opportunity to make counter-offers but declined, the statement said.
[snip]
Muth argued that ThedaCare had weeks to come up with better offers to keep their employees or figure out alternate staffing solutions and instead chose to initiate court action days before the workers were set to start at Ascension, resulting in "a mess of ThedaCare's own making."
In the complaint, ThedaCare attorneys wrote that the organization found out Dec. 21 that four interventional radiology technicians had accepted offers with Ascension, and learned Dec. 29 that two nurses planned to make the same move. On Jan. 7, they learned one additional nurse planned to quit and work at Ascension.
Ascension had offered the employees a better benefits package that ThedaCare did not match, Muth said.
Timothy Breister, an Appleton resident and one of the seven employees involved in the systems' dispute, submitted a letter to McGinnis Friday before the hearing describing his experience.
One of his colleagues received an offer from Ascension that was attractive "not just in pay but also a better work/life balance," which caused others on his team to apply, Breister wrote.
After approaching ThedaCare with the chance to match the offers they'd been given, Breister wrote that they were told "the long term expense to ThedaCare was not worth the short term cost," and no counter-offer would be made.
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At-will employees, not under contract. Applied for better jobs, gave notice to their current employer who refused to match the rival offer. Employer waits until just before they start their new jobs to get a court injunction to stop them from doing so. Claims it will constitute a healthcare crisis if they leave their current hospital, so now they’ve effectively created the crisis themselves by preventing them from working for either hospital.
Synopsis: Some organizations which have competed successfully for decades by focusing primarily on creating unique solutions for each customer are now embracing operational excellence to drive even more customer value. I see a shift in the coming decade to combining operational excellence with tailored solutions for individual customers based on a deep understanding of their needs.
Examples: L.L. Bean has had lots of information about customers for many years that they have used to tailor offerings and services. But while such customized services used to be enough to compete effectively, these retailers are now finding they need to improve their operational reliability too. L.L. Bean is embarking on a major investment in its systems infrastructure to improve its reliability.
No industry is closer to its customers than healthcare. Doctors are driven to understand each patient deeply and to deliver a unique solution tailored to the patient's specific needs. In 2003 ThedaCare (a health delivery system with five hospitals, 26 clinics, and over 6,000 employees, based in northeast Wisconsin) leaders decided to focus on designing processes that consistently work better, reduce waste, and enable staff to better meet the needs of patients.
Question: Have you seen organizations which have simultaneously been world class at operational excellence and customer intimacy?
