In most respects, employees of public hospital districts have similar rights as employees of private hospitals. For example, they have the right to organize as collective bargaining units and be free from unfair management practices. However, the source of laws affecting public employees is often times different and, in many cases, this translates into some meaningful differences in the rights and duties of public hospital employees. Consequently, public hospital district management must be sensitive to these laws. This section provides some basic guidance in the topical areas of Labor Relations; Hiring and Firing; and Wage & Hour Protections.

PPrivate employee law is generally covered by such acts as the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Civil Rights Act. Public employers are specifically exempted from the National Labor Relations Act. Instead, public employment in Washington State is governed by specific state statutes, including RCW 41.56 and RCW 41.58.

RCW 41.56 grants rights to public employees to collectively organize and bargain in a fashion similar to the protections provided to private employees under the NLRA. RCW 41.58 creates the Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) to oversee the labor activities authorized by this and several other statutes, and grants PERC powers in the areas of dispute resolution, mediation, fact-finding, arbitration, unit determinations, election support, and unfair labor practice determinations.

RCW 41.56.120 expressly states that "nothing contained in this chapter shall permit or grant any public employee the right to strike or refuse to perform his official duties". In addition, the Washington Supreme Court has concluded that there is no common law right to strike. Thus, it is illegal for public hospital district employees to strike. Hospital districts may discharge striking employees, may make threats concerning discharge should a strike occur, and may seek injunctive relief through a court of law to stop an illegal strike.

Practical Consideration

While strikes are illegal by public hospital district employees, employees may indeed be able to disrupt the workplace before the imposition of legal sanctions. Also, the inability to strike has led PERC to enforce the duty to bargain in good faith strictly against public employees. Thus, public hospital districts are more likely to be found to violate this duty than a private hospital.

If impasse occurs, public employers are allowed to implement their last and best offer, so long as they have bargained in good faith.

Collective bargaining agreements in the public sector may be held invalid if in existence for longer than three years. The term may be challenged by other union representatives. Also, these contracts may not provide for automatic renewal or extension.

In terms of hiring decisions, hospital districts must generally conform to the same laws that apply to private hospitals. That is, there is significant discretion to set qualifications for jobs and to select candidates and employees, provided that there is no unlawful discrimination.

In terms of firing or "discharge" decisions, the default standard is that public hospital district employees who are hired for an unspecified duration are employed at will and can be terminated for almost any reason. Two exceptions to at will employment are if a property interest was created in the job via a board resolution or an express or implied agreement, or if the employee is protected for public policy reasons. If one of these exceptions exists, which is often the case, then the public employee can only be terminated where there is just cause. [See also Chapter Six, Topic VI: Employment Law]

The provisions of employment contracts or collective bargaining agreements may provide protections to public hospital district employees in this area as well.

Public employees were originally exempt from the minimum wage and overtime requirements of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. However, this law now applies to governmental entities such as public hospital districts. There are certain exemptions and other special provisions which are of relevance to hospital districts.

Certain categories of public employees are exempt under the federal law, including elected officials. Also, white collar exemptions for executive, administrative, and professional employees are available to public as well as private employers.

Public hospital districts are allowed to give employees compensatory time off in lieu of immediate overtime payments in cash, at a rate of not less than one and one-half hours for each hour of overtime worked. This is authorized only if made under a collective bargaining agreement or an agreement arrived at before the performance of the work. A regular practice of granting compensatory time that was in place before 1986 is deemed to be an agreement.

Below is a list of “Legal Holidays” as adopted by the Washington State Legislature in RCW 1.16.050, as amended.

• New Year’s Day
• Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• Presidents’ Day
• Memorial Day
• Independence Day
• Labor Day
• Veterans’ Day
• Thanksgiving Day
• Day after Thanksgiving
• Christmas Day
• Personal (Floating) Day
• Sunday

Public district hospitals, like private hospitals, are free to observe any or none of the listed holidays. The chief of the Legal-Fiscal Division of the Attorney General's office has stated: "The holiday statute is not a labor law for purposes of giving employees designated days off." Thus, he advised that the holidays specified above need not necessarily be granted to employees by the hospital, nor must they be observed on the above dates in order to be paid.

The Assistant Attorney General further clarified the language in the statute which states: "Whenever any legal holiday falls on a Saturday, the preceding Friday shall be the legal holiday. Whenever any legal holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday shall be the legal holiday." He advised that this provision does not preclude the public district hospital from observing the given holiday on the actual day it falls, such as a Saturday or Sunday. Therefore, the public district hospital has the same flexibility in establishing variable staff holiday schedules as does a private hospital, subject, of course, to any collective bargaining or other form of contractual agreement.

During the 1993 session, WSHA, on behalf of its PHD members, lobbied for and obtained legislative approval of a proposed state constitutional amendment to clarify that PHDs are allowed to employ chaplains. This amendment received the required approval by the public in the November, 1993 General Election. The Washington State Constitution, Article 1, Section 11, prohibits the use of public money or property for the benefit of any religion. However, the section now states that "this article shall not be so construed as to forbid the employment af a chaplain . . . by a county's or public hospital district's hospital, health care facility, or hospice . . . " [RCW 70.44.059]