DATE: Tuesday March 4, 2025
TIME:    noon- 2 pm
LOCATION:   Hospital Lobby near the elevator on the clinic level

Stop by and enter to win a $25 gift card!

Look for the WSNA blue!

JUST CAUSE - What is it and why does it matter?

Even the best nurses can make mistakes, which is why most union contracts include language protecting workers from discipline without just cause. That means your employer can’t discipline you for any reason; under your union contract, Employers need to prove they’ve met seven specific standards to demonstrate they have just cause for disciplining a nurse in our bargaining unit. Unless they meet all seven standards, they would not have just cause for discipline and could not penalize a nurse under your contract.

Those seven standards are:

1. Management must give employees fair notice of the rule they’re accused of violating. Management must show that you knew about a rule before they can discipline you for violating it. They might do this through mandatory trainings, classes during orientation, or by distributing a rule via email to all employees.
2. The rule must be reasonable. Management doesn’t have just cause for discipline if they’re enforcing an unreasonable rule, even if you knew the rule exists. If your manager is trying to enforce a rule that doesn’t make sense for your unit, it might not be a reasonable rule.
3. Management must have done a thorough investigation before imposing discipline. If management did only a partial investigation before disciplining you or if crucial evidence of a violation only turned up after you were disciplined, they did not complete a thorough investigation before disciplining you.
4. Management’s investigation must have been fair and objective. If your manager only talked to other managers or didn’t talk to everyone who witnessed the alleged violation, they have not completed a fair and objective investigation.
5. Management must have proof the violation actually occurred. If management disciplines you because they have a hunch you’ve violated a rule but no proof, they have not met the standard for just cause.
6. Management must have enforced the rule evenhandedly. If management has never enforced this rule before or imposed less serious penalties in the past, they have not met the standard for just cause. Likewise, if management is harder on some employees than others when it enforces this rule, it’s not applying the rule evenhandedly and does not have just cause.
7. The penalty must be proportionate to the violation. Management must take things like the seriousness of the rule they’re alleging you’ve violated and your length of service into account when it decides to impose discipline. If you’ve received a serious penalty for a minor violation or for your first offense after a long history as an employee in good standing, your employer may not have just cause for discipline.

Just cause protections are one of the biggest benefits of union representation, For more on how to enforce your rights reach out to one of your WSNA officers today!

WSNA Local Unit Officers:
Julie Bielau – Chair
Leslie Preysz – Secretary
Zanna Cochran – Treasurer
Chris Wacholz – Grievance
Clarese Markins - Grievance

Questions? Contact WSNA Labor Representative Tae Abraham at babraham@wsna.org, 206-575-7979 ext. 3142, or WSNA Nurse Representative Barbara Friesen at bfriesen@wsna.org  206-575-7979 ext. 3056.