Kadlec Regional Medical Center will avoid a trial after agreeing to settle with the union representing its nurses over alleged retaliation. 

Regional officials with the National Labor Relations Board, or NLRB, had found sufficient evidence to formally charge Kadlec with violating federal labor law by interfering with nurses’ protected union rights and discriminating against employees because of union activity, according to the Washington State Nurses Association, or WSNA. 

Under the terms of the settlement, Kadlec will remove disciplinary actions from the files of three nurses and post a notice for 60 days informing employees of their rights under federal labor law. 

“Nurses were telling us they were being retaliated against for union activity, and we couldn’t let that continue,” said WSNA nurse representative Laurie Robinson in a statement. “This case shows the facility continued these behaviors until it was forced to change.” 

Kadlec did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business. 

The allegations cover incidents dating between 2023 and 2024 and involved discipline or discrimination over undocumented complaints against one nurse, concerns over shift assignment procedures from another and a complaint from a third nurse about a pilot staffing model, WSNA alleged. Two of the three nurses were in leadership positions within their local bargaining unit. 

WSNA filed four unfair labor practice complaints on behalf of the nurses with Region 19 of NLRB. The agency combined them into a single complaint in charging Kadlec with interfering with, restraining or coercing employees in exercising rights protected under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act and discriminating against employees regarding the terms and conditions of employment in a manner that discouraged union activity.