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The Case of Lost Labor

Decent Essays

Lost Labor There were several charges of inequity and injustice that occupied an incident in the late winter of 2010 at Washington Hospital Center, located within the District of Columbia. Following a considerable snowstorm, which many dubbed a blizzard and which was reported to have deposited as much as 40 inches of snow on the ground between February 5 and February 11, 11 nurses and five additional staff members were terminated for failing to attend their work at the hospital due to the intemperate weather. Representatives from the area's local nurses union, Nurses United of the National Capital Region, stated that the number of nurses who were unable to attend their duty at the hospital due to the severe weather conditions was tabulated at approximately 250 nurses. The disparity between that figure and the number of nurses (and additional hospital employees) who were terminated poses two very interesting cases or points of view in regards to the firings one that such termination is just, the other that such termination is decidedly inequitable. A significant amount of evidence exists that indicates that the termination of these employees was highly subjective, and illustrative of inconsistent practices on the part of Washington Hospital Center. In addition to the number of nurses who missed scheduled work hours due to the weather conditions being substantially higher than the amount who were actually terminated, representatives from Nurses United of the National

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