VICTORY: Persistence & Union Representation Pay Off for MNGH Worker!

Tiffany Harris is a unit secretary in the E.R. at General Hospital. She was terminated by a Supervisor back in December, even though several employees witnessed the incident and said that Tiffany was not at fault.

Tiffany made her case at a disciplinary hearing, but when her Supervisor decided to fire her, the Supervisor refused to allow Tiffany to have a union representative present. This is a violation of the MOU, the hospital’s civil service rules, and state law. The union appealed the decision to fire Tiffany and due to the Supervisor’s mistake (and because of flimsy evidence that the union reps pointed out), the Hearing Officer ruled in favor of Tiffany and put her back to work.

You would think that would be the end of the story, but the Supervisor then decided to re-charge Tiffany with the offense and then allowed the union rep to be in on the meeting. Tiffany was fired a second time. On appeal, Dr. Coopwood overturned the Supervisor’s decision and Tiffany returned to work… a second time.

The Union has filed a grievance against the Supervisor for harassment, falsifying documentation, and creating a hostile work environment. The grievance is working its way through the system, but in the meantime, Tiffany is – again – back on the job doing her best to serve patients and her co-workers at General Hospital. “If it wasn’t for the Union staying on top of this, I don’t know where I’d be,” said Tiffany. “You just never know when someone in Management is going to single you out or give you a hard time. I think everyone’s better off having the union in their corner and I’m sure glad I joined”.