NLRB v. Maine Coast Regional Health Facilities

In NLRB v. Maine Coast Regional Health Facilities, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held against Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems (MCMH) for firing a nurse in retaliation for her letter to a newspaper:

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Young submitted a letter to the editor of the Ellsworth American. In her letter, she referenced the previous newspaper pieces and expressed support for the nurses and doctors in their respective labor disputes. She applauded the nurses for submitting their petition, urged management to heed the nurses' staffing demands, and opined that they were rightly concerned about risks to patient safety posed by understaffing. She also criticized management as unduly allegiant to EMHS and out of touch with patient care, arguing that these shortcomings negatively affected hospital staff and the local community. Young did not discuss her letter with any other employee prior to submitting it. ... Just hours after Young's letter was published, MCMH terminated her employment, citing the media policy. Prior to Young's discharge, no employee had ever been disciplined for violating EMHS's media policy. EMHS later revised the policy, adding a "savings clause" stating that the prohibition against contact with the media did not apply to communications "concerning a labor dispute or other concerted communications for the purpose of mutual aid or protection protected by the National Labor Relations Act."

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