Court Lets NUHW Pursue Section 302 Claim Kaiser ‘Lost-Time’ Approvals Aided SEIU-UHW

A federal district court in California ruled June 12 the National Union of Healthcare Workers may pursue a claim that Kaiser Permanente violated Section 302 of the Labor-Management Relations Act by stepping up approval of union-related leave requests in order to benefit an incumbent union during a contest with NUHW over the right to represent Kaiser employees (Nat’l Union of Healthcare Workers v. Kaiser Found. Health Plan Inc., N.D. Cal., 3:10-cv-03686-WHA, 6/12/13).

NUHW alleges that Kaiser took “sudden, noticeable, and dramatic” action that allowed hundreds of employees to go on leave with employer-paid benefits and to ...