Boston Medical Center v. Serv Employees Intl Union Loc 285

• Decision Date: 08 March 2001
• Docket Number: No. 00-2322,00-2322
• Citation: 260 F.3d 16
• Parties: (1st Cir. 2001) BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER, Plaintiff, Appellee, v. SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION, LOCAL 285, Defendant, Appellant. Heard
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

Page 16

260 F.3d 16 (1st Cir. 2001)

BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER, Plaintiff, Appellee, v. SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION, LOCAL 285, Defendant, Appellant.

No. 00-2322

United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit

Heard March 8, 2001

Decided August 9, 2001

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS

[Hon. William G. Young, Chief U.S. District Judge] [Copyrighted Material Omitted] Robert S. Steinberg, with whom Arthur P. Menard and Menard, Murphy & Walsh LLP were on brief, for appellee.

David B. Rome, with whom Pyle, Rome, Lichten & Ehrenberg, P.C. was on brief, for appellant.

Before Boudin, Chief Judge, Bownes, Senior Circuit Judge, and Lipez, Circuit Judge.

LIPEZ, Circuit Judge.

Service Employees International Union, Local 285 ("the Union") appeals the entry of summary judgment in favor of Boston Medical Center ("BMC" or "the Hospital") vacating an arbitrator's award ordering the reinstatement of Katherine Hartney, a registered nurse employed by BMC but terminated following the death of an infant under her care. The district court found that the arbitrator had exceeded the scope of her authority under the collective bargaining agreement between the Union and BMC in ordering Hartney's reinstatement. Additionally, the court ruled that the arbitrator's award was unenforceable because it violates "the well-established public policy [in Massachusetts] of delivering safe and competent nursing care." Boston Med. Ctr. v. Service Employees Int'l Union, Local 285, 113 F. Supp.2d 169, 174 (D. Mass. 2000). We reverse.

I.

We accept the facts as the arbitrator found them. See El Dorado Technical Servs., Inc. v. Union General de Trabajadores de Puerto Rico, 961 F.2d 317, 320 (1st Cir. 1992). A four-month-old infant, Baby X,¹ was admitted to BMC on September 22, 1998 for second degree burns on her legs, feet, and buttocks resulting from a bathing incident involving hot tap water. Hartney, who had been employed by BMC for ten years, reported for her nursing shift beginning at 7 p.m. on September 24. Hartney was the baby's primary care nurse from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. on September 25. When she arrived for her shift, Hartney was briefed by the outgoing nurses on the status of the patients under her care. This meeting lasted approximately thirty to forty minutes.

During the night of September 24, Baby X was being monitored for sepsis or septic shock, a condition familiar to any competent nurse. The potentially fatal condition, particularly for infants, is characterized by three clinical stages. The first stage is marked by an increase in the patient's temperature, respiration, and heart rate; the second stage is marked by a normal or reduced temperature and an elevated heart rate; and the third stage is marked by a reduced temperature, increased heart rate, and respiratory distress. Patients in the third stage of septic shock may also appear mottled or dusky in coloring.

At 7:50 p.m., student nurse Melinda Leight took Baby X's temperature using a glass thermometer and obtained a reading of 102.2. Hartney waited outside Baby X's room during this time and reviewed her paperwork from the previous day. This paperwork included an order by the baby's doctor for nursing personnel to notify a doctor if her temperature exceeded 101.5. Hartney testified that she did not contact a doctor at that time, however, because her own clinical assessment of Baby X led her to believe that the temperature reading of 102.2 was inaccurate.

There was conflicting testimony offered about Hartney's clinical decisions and patient care after that point. Hartney testified that she instructed Leight to recheck the baby's temperature with an electronic thermometer in ten minutes, at 8 p.m., and that the reading at that time was 99.3. However, Leight testified that Hartney instructed her to take a temperature reading again in one hour, at 9 p.m., at which time she obtained a reading of 99.3. The arbitrator credited Leight's account of these events.

Between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m., Hartney performed a variety of routine care-taking tasks for Baby X, including changing her diaper, changing her burn dressings, and monitoring her intravenous line. While the infant's heart rate was elevated during this time, Hartney testified that she was not unduly concerned because she attributed the elevated heart rate to burn-related pain, and because she believed the baby's heart rate had been elevated during the previous shift as well.

The arbitrator heard conflicting testimony from Hartney and another nurse on duty that night, Michelle Force. Force stated that she entered Baby X's room at 9:30 p.m. and obtained the following readings: a temperature of 97.0, a pulse above 200, and respiration in the 60s. Force testified that she discussed these findings with Hartney. Hartney, on the other hand, stated that Force did not enter Baby X's room until 11:30 p.m. The arbitrator credited Force's account that she checked on Baby X at 9:30 p.m. and reported to Hartney.

In another discrepancy in the accounts that Hartney and Force gave of the events that night, Force testified that she observed changes in Baby X's skin coloring when she and Hartney checked on the infant together at 11:30 p.m. However, the arbitrator credited Hartney's testimony that the baby's skin appeared normal at 11:30 p.m. and that she did not observe any discoloration until 12:15 a.m. The arbitrator found that Hartney acted promptly at 12:15 a.m. when she observed Baby X's mottled lips, recognized entry into the third stage of septic shock, and called a pediatric surgeon. The arbitrator concluded that there was no reason to suspect Hartney would not have acted promptly had she noticed unusual coloring at 11:30 p.m.

Baby X deteriorated through the remainder of the night and died at 4:55 a.m. on the morning of September 25, 1998. The Hospital conducted an investigation of the circumstances of Baby X's death. Two nursing supervisors questioned Hartney, Leight, and Force and reviewed the infant's patient records. Based on their determination that Hartney "engaged in serious substandard nursing practices" in caring for Baby X, BMC terminated Hartney on October 2, 1998.

After the Union submitted to arbitration a grievance concerning Hartney's discharge, the arbitrator heard two days of testimony. On July 6, 1999, the arbitrator issued an Opinion and Award finding that BMC violated Article XV of the collective bargaining agreement in discharging Hartney without just cause, and reduced the penalty imposed by BMC from discharge to an unpaid, nine-month suspension.

BMC brought an action in the district court to vacate the arbitrator's award. See 29 U.S.C. § 185. The Union counterclaimed for enforcement. BMC advanced two arguments before the district court: 1) that the arbitrator exceeded her authority in reducing the penalty chosen by BMC despite her finding that BMC had just cause to impose some level of discipline on Hartney; and 2) that the award was unenforceable because it violated public policy in Massachusetts in favor of safe and competent nursing care. The district court vacated the award on both grounds. Persuaded that these rulings are erroneous, we vacate the judgment of the district court and order entry of judgment for the Union on its counterclaim for confirmation of the arbitrator's award.

II. Interpretation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement

The parties agreed to the following issues before the arbitrator: "(1) Did the Hospital violate Article XV of the collective bargaining agreement when it terminated the grievant, Katherine Hartney, on October 2, 1998?; [and] (2) If so, what shall be the remedy?" Article XV of the collective bargaining agreement provides: "No RN who has completed his/her probationary period² shall be disciplined or discharged except for just cause." In her written decision, the arbitrator concluded that "there is just cause for the imposition of discipline in this matter but . . . discharge is too harsh a penalty for an employee with an unblemished record of employment for nearly ten years." In considering the appropriate penalty, the arbitrator rejected BMC's position that the collective bargaining agreement precluded the application of progressive discipline: "While [Article XV] makes no explicit reference to progressive discipline, it references 'just cause,' a concept which encompasses both liability for the action(s) charged and fairness in the amount of discipline imposed." The arbitrator ordered that the Hospital reinstate Hartney immediately, but without back pay,³ and ordered Hartney to participate in a remedial educational program for the treatment of pediatric burn victims as part of the reinstatement process.

In considering BMC's motion for summary judgment, the district court interpreted Article XV of the agreement in conjunction with Article XVI. Article XVI, entitled "Management Rights," provides in part: "Except to the extent expressly limited by this Agreement, the Hospital retains the exclusive right to . . . suspend, discipline and discharge employees for just cause." The district court interpreted these provisions as follows:

Upon the determination that just cause for discipline existed, Article XVI vested the power to "sentence" in the Hospital alone, and any further determination by the arbitrator necessarily modifies the existing agreement between the parties. . . . There is here simply no way plausibly to read Articles XV and XVI together in such a manner as to limit the Hospital's managerial rights once just cause has been found.

Boston Med. Ctr., 113 F. Supp.2d at 172 (citations omitted). Because the arbitrator found that just cause existed for disciplining Hartney, yet concluded that discharge was inappropriately harsh, the district court concluded that "the arbitrator contradicted her own findings." Id. We review the district court's decision de novo. See Keebler Co. v. Truck Drivers, Local 170...