Citation: Northern Maine Medical Center Failed to Pay Nurses Overtime, Among Other Violations

• Northern Maine Medical Center has been cited by the Maine Department of Labor for failing to pay nurses overtime. 
• The hospital was cited for 77 violations, according to a letter obtained by local media outlets. 
• The Maine Nurses Association initiated complaints against the hospital. 

A Maine hospital has been ordered to pay thousands of dollars in fees as a result of a complaint initiated by the state’s nurses association. 

Late last month, the Maine Department of Labor cited Northern Maine Medical Center (NMMC) for several regulatory violations, including failing to pay nurses overtime and failing to issue payment in a timely manner. 

“Unfortunately, NMMC’s disregard for the law and for their nurses is symptomatic of the behavior that led us to form a union in the first place,” Ami Maxwell, RN in the emergency department, stated in a National Nurses United news release. “Our union will continue fighting for a level playing field for all nurses and a strong first union contract that ensures the highest standard of care for our communities.” 

Detailing the Northern Maine Medical Center Citations 

The citation letter, obtained by various local media outlets, noted 77 violations. Misclassifying workers as subcontractors and requiring nurses to sign contracts “that exempted NMMC from Maine’s labor laws” were among the violations,” the union stated. 

In a statement provided to the Bangor Daily News, NMMC confirmed the letter was related to “pay practices implemented while utilizing the so-called RN Flexible Solutions Program for four registered nurses to assist with staffing shortages.” 

The newspaper also outlined the depth of the violations: 

• 12 related to overtime. 
• 12 related to timely and full payments. 
• 12 related to requiring contracts that stated employees would be independent contractors (making them exempt from overtime requirements). 
• 41 related to employee misclassification. 

Two nurses lost their jobs due to the misclassification, according to the Maine Nurses Association (MNA). The Bangor Daily News reported that one nurse was rehired months after the union held a protest calling for her to get her job back. 

As settlement agreement requires the following: 

• NMMC to pay more than $15,000 to three nurses for “wages, liquidated damages, and interest” and $8,750 in fines to the state of Maine. 
• The Department of Labor will monitor the hospital’s compliance for two years and issue more than $84,000 in additional penalties if the NMMC doesn’t follow the settlement terms.
• The DOL will hold Maine Labor Law retraining with hospital management within 180 days. 
• The DOL will end the hospital’s RN Flexibility Solutions program. 

A History of Complaints

NMMC has been in the news in recent months for other concerns, particularly related to union contract negotiations and the closure of a child psychiatric unit. 

Nursing CE Central reported last November on the MNA’s filing of an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging that the hospital refused to bargain or participated in bad faith bargaining. Nurses at the hospital voted in January 2024 to unionize and have yet to agree on a contract. 

Nurses also publicly voiced concerns about NMMC’s “abrupt closure” of its Child Adolescent Psychiatric Unit (CAPU) last September. 

“Hospital management, including CEO Jeff Zewe, talk a lot about transparency, but their actions show a complete lack of respect and accountability to nurses and the community we care for,” Terry Caron, an RN at NMMC who worked for 12 years in the CAPU and now works in the adult psychiatric unit, stated in a Maine AFL-CIO news release. “Just as nurses and the community were not given any notice about the closure of obstetrics services in May 2023, we were not given any notice about the sudden closure of the child adolescent psychiatric unit a few weeks ago.” 

The Bottom Line

Northern Maine Medical Center was cited by the Maine Department of Labor and has been ordered to pay thousands of dollars in fees and fines. Violations include untimely payments and failure to pay overtime. 

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