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Though the state has embarked on a recruitment campaign, a shortage of nurses at Pelican Bay State Prison has led to a toxic environment of harassment, retaliation and disciplinary action, according to a union representative.

With 47 open nursing positions at the prison, members of the skeleton crew that’s left are often asked to work 16 hours a day or are covering the work of two or three people during one eight-hour shift, said Laura Slavec, local SEIU district bargaining unit representative and registered dental assistant at Pelican Bay.

In six cases, employees who have leave authorizations under the U.S. Family and Medical Leave Act for health conditions have been subject to additional illegal questioning and harassment for invoking their FMLA rights to work their normal eight hours, Slavec told the Wild Rivers Outpost.

Slavec said the practice first came to her attention April 7. On April 14, a distressed staff member called Slavec in tears because she was brought in for extra questioning after telling the prison’s director of nursing she couldn’t work the mandated overtime.

“She’s like, ‘They keep questioning me and I told them I can’t do a mandate,’” Slavec said, referring to the mandated overtime. “‘I did a mandate the night before. I just have to go home and take my medication. I have an FMLA on file, why isn’t that good enough for you?’”

Inappropriate questions include asking employees “what precludes them from working overtime?” and asking them to state the “immediate need” preventing them from providing advanced notice for their need to take a leave, according to Slavec.

According to Slavec, one nurse received a letter of instruction — an official written warning — after refusing to answer those questions.

“They’re always very punitive, very intimidating,” Slavec said of the warnings. “And they talk about a lawful order, but they’re not police officers. They’re not law enforcement. They’re nurses.”

On April 16, SEIU 1000 sent Pelican Bay State Prison a demand to “cease and desist from interfering with nurses’ rights under FMLA/CFRA (California Family Rights Act)”. The demand letter was directed to the prison’s director of nursing, Peter Korin, and unit supervisor Jessica Dark, and pointed out that under FMLA and CFRA, employees can take up to 12 weeks of leave a year due to their own medical needs or to care for a family member.

According to the union’s letter, when an employee needs to take intermittent leave, they can obtain FMLA approval in advance and don’t need to provide a medical note or further substantiation to their superiors.

SEIU 1000’s letter further states that an employee with an intermittent FMLA leave on file being brought to the director of nursing for extra questioning interferes with their rights to take job-protected leave.

“Once the certification is provided, asking further questions impermissibly discourages the use of job-protected leave,” the cease and desist letter states. “Such interference is prohibited under state and federal law.”

Slavec said incidents like nurses being forced to work overtime and then being subject to questioning and disciplinary action when they try to invoke their FMLA rights against working that overtime contributes to the staffing shortage. Potential new hires think twice about working at the prison, she said.

“They hear about the mistreatment,” she said. “Even though the pay and benefits are amazing, it’s like, ‘Is it worth it?’”

If PBSP doesn’t address the concerns in the cease and desist letter, the next step is to file a complaint with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing and with the U.S. Department of Labor, Slavec said.

California Correctional Health Care Services (CCHCS) are working to address Pelican Bay's staffing struggles, according to Elizabeth Gransee, CCHCS's deputy director of communications. This includes meeting with staff, stakeholders and union representatives and bringing in "registry and headquarters staff" to alleviate the shortage, she said.

Meanwhile, the CCHCS Workforce Development launched two recruitment efforts for registered nurses and licensed vocational nurses at Pelican Bay last fall and this spring, Gransee said. These efforts have netted 57 RNs and 45 LVNs, Gransee said.

Digital marketing continues to recruit nursing staff at Pelican Bay, Gransee said. This includes a campaign targeting the Grants Pass and Medford areas, she said.

“Additional efforts are in development to increase candidates for PBSP and will continue to ensure we have adequate staffing in all of our institutions,” Gransee said.

However, according to one of the six nurses who was questioned after trying to invoke her FMLA rights against working mandated overtime, some new recruits don’t even make it out of orientation. They're not concerned about safety or about working with inmates, she said, but they see how management treats the current staff.

Speaking to the Outpost anonymously due to fears of retaliation from her superiors, the nurse said she requested leave through FMLA due to a medical condition. She said she’s part of the SEIU 1000 action against the prison because she knows “if I don’t stand up for those who can’t stand up for themselves, all this is going to keep happening.”

“I chose to get the write-up and I choose to say no and I choose to have a target on my back because I know that I have the power to do that,” she said. “They are going to go after me. I’ve seen it happen to other people so I knew what I was getting myself into, but I have a medical condition I cannot control and it’s only going to get worse.”

Another nurse who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation and who also was questioned after trying to invoke her FMLA rights due to having a special needs child, said it’s not just new hires that are quitting. Senior nurses — veterans with more than 20 years under their belt — have put in for retirement, she said.

She said one of her coworkers was forced to do his own job plus that of a trauma and triage nurse due to the staffing shortage. He submitted his retirement notice the following day, she said.

Another coworker who also filled in for trauma and triage fell and badly injured her back, this nurse said.

“It’s dangerous,” she said. “Where us nurses are standing up, it’s not so much, ‘You’re violating our rights’ — which they are — it’s us nurses saying this is not safe for the patients. I can speak for all the nurses I work with — yes our patients are inmates, but they have rights too.”

Slavec noted that if the cease and desist letter and complaints with the Department of Labor and DFEH lead to a lawsuit, it’s not the employees named in the suit that pay -- it’s California residents. She said she brought the issue to the attention of State Sen. Mike McGuire and Assemblyman Jim Wood, both of whom represent Del Norte County.

“We’re not keeping it inside anymore,” Slavec said. “We’re trying to get the story outside the walls because it continues if they don’t have that heat coming from outside.”

Documents:

• SEIU 1000 Cease and Desist Letter

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