Filipino Nurses Win Recruiter’s Appeal Over Contract Damages

Employment companies that recruit Filipino nurses for jobs in New York-based health-care facilities lost an appeal over orders barring them from enforcing a contractual liquidated damages clause, because the provision is an unenforceable penalty, the Second Circuit said Tuesday.

The provision calling for nurses to pay $25,000 if they leave their placements before their contract terms end bore no relation to the companies’ actual costs of recruiting nurses, bringing them to the U.S., obtaining visas for them, and housing them for their first few months in the country, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said.

The ...