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| Filipino nurses settle lawsuit with Albany Medical Center. |
Exacerbating the shortage of health care workers is the Great Resignation. US nurses are quitting or retiring, exhausted of taking care of thousands of COVID-19 patients that have overwhelmed hospitals. Nearly 1 in 5 health care workers have quit their job during the pandemic and the Labor Department projects a shortfall of more than a million nurses in the coming year..
“Every time there’s a US shortage, the US has turned to the Philippines for help,” said Leo Feli-Jurado, professor of nursing at William Paterson University in New Jersey.
With the lure of higher pay and a better chance of securing a US, British or Australian visa, Filipino nurses are answering the call. But there are hidden pitfalls in the fine print offered by some recruiters
US embassies and consulates were instructed last summer that they may prioritize “as emergencies on a case-by-case basis the immigrant visa cases of certain health care professionals who will work at a facility engaged in pandemic response.”
“There has never been a more urgent need for the care that foreign-trained nurses provide than during the current COVID-19 pandemic and its looming aftermath,” the American Hospital Association wrote last June to the US State Department.
“These professionals play critical roles in ensuring the health of the communities we serve. … Foreign-trained nurses do not displace American workers. At the same time, the demand for nurses continues to grow. Many foreign-trained nurses are recruited to rural and inner-city hospitals, locations that find it more difficult to recruit domestically.”
“There has never been a more urgent need for the care that foreign-trained nurses provide than during the current COVID-19 pandemic and its looming aftermath,” the American Hospital Association wrote last June to the US State Department.
“These professionals play critical roles in ensuring the health of the communities we serve. … Foreign-trained nurses do not displace American workers. At the same time, the demand for nurses continues to grow. Many foreign-trained nurses are recruited to rural and inner-city hospitals, locations that find it more difficult to recruit domestically.”
Jurado said Filipino nurses often end up taking jobs in high stress environments that others might refuse. That may have contributed to disproportionate risks during the pandemic. According to a recent survey, Filipinos made up more than a quarter of COVID-19 deaths among US nurses, despite being only 4% of the workforce.
A group of nurses from the Philippines have filed a suit against Health Carousel, a healthcare staffing agency based in Ohio, accusing the company of wage theft and other unfair labor practices, reports Bloomberg earlier this month.
The lawsuit was filed by Novie Dale Carmen, a nurse from the Philippines who signed a three-year commitment with Health Carousel to come to the U.S. and work at a hospital in Muncy, Pa. Carmen ended up paying a $20,000 quitting fee to get out of her contract early.
Low wages, mandatory overtime that did not count toward the 6,240 hours on her contract, and a ban keeping her from discussing her working conditions pushed Ms. Carmen to the costly decision to pay the quitting fee.
"I was basically trapped," she told Bloomberg. "Duped."
Since originally filing the suit against Health Carousel, two more plaintiffs have joined. The suit accuses the company of human trafficking — which the Department of Homeland Security defines as the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor — wage theft and racketeering.
A group of nurses from the Philippines have filed a suit against Health Carousel, a healthcare staffing agency based in Ohio, accusing the company of wage theft and other unfair labor practices, reports Bloomberg earlier this month.
The lawsuit was filed by Novie Dale Carmen, a nurse from the Philippines who signed a three-year commitment with Health Carousel to come to the U.S. and work at a hospital in Muncy, Pa. Carmen ended up paying a $20,000 quitting fee to get out of her contract early.
Low wages, mandatory overtime that did not count toward the 6,240 hours on her contract, and a ban keeping her from discussing her working conditions pushed Ms. Carmen to the costly decision to pay the quitting fee.
"I was basically trapped," she told Bloomberg. "Duped."
Since originally filing the suit against Health Carousel, two more plaintiffs have joined. The suit accuses the company of human trafficking — which the Department of Homeland Security defines as the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor — wage theft and racketeering.
In a statement to Bloomberg, Health Carousel denied wrongdoing.
"We are proud of our work to place internationally trained nurses at understaffed hospital systems in the United States," the company said. "We invest to recruit these professionals and sponsor their employment-based visas to fulfill their dreams," adding that it expects employees who do not finish their contracts to pay back its upfront expenses, which include things such as a visa, licensing and travel.
The news outlet cited a filing from last year where Health Carousel said it "denies all allegations that Plaintiff or any of its nurses were indentured servants to Health Carousel" and denied claims that its contract terms are "draconian."
It is the not the first lawsuit against a recruitment agency.
Most recently in June last year, a New York court ordered Prompt Nurssing Employment Agency LLC, doing business as Sentosa Services, to pay the Filipino plaintiffs $1.56 million after it had violated the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and broken their contract by threatening to seriously harm the nurses financially if they left their jobs early.
The court ruled that Sentosa violated the trafficking victims act because the nurses were forced to remain in the agency’s employ to avoid repercussions and charges they wouldn’t be able to pay.
In a similar case versus Albany Medical Center, Attorney General James said in a press statement: “By forcing its employees to choose between paying outrageous sums to leave their jobs, or facing immigration authorities, Albany Med violated their rights as workers and as individuals.”
A New York State Nurses Association lawsuit against Albany Medical Center led to the agreement which resulted in the hospital paying the nurses $90,000.
A New York State Nurses Association lawsuit against Albany Medical Center led to the agreement which resulted in the hospital paying the nurses $90,000.
EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AAPI perspective, follow me on Twitter @DioknoEd.
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